“To Preserve is to Resist”: Threading Black Cultural Heritage from within in Quilombo Tourism

Quilombos have been a constant force in the history of Brazil, from colonial and imperial times, through independence, the republic legislation, and the Federal Constitution of 1988. During these periods, quilombo portrayal has changed from representations of sites for “fugitives” and “criminals” to locations of resistance par excellence. In this article, I ask how are legitimacy and authenticity experienced within the context of quilombo community-based tourism. I discuss how the quilombolas of Campinho da Independência (Rio de Janeiro state) produce fluid tour narratives that both create and preserve selective aspects of their cultural history and memory as means of resistance, but also as means of interconnectedness and sovereignty.