Decolonizing the Northeast: Brazilian Subalterns, Non-European Heritages, and Radical Geography in Pernambuco

Abstract

This article addresses histories and geographies of the northeast of Brazil in the works of radical Pernambuco geographer Manuel Correia de Andrade and his main intellectual inspirations, such as Euclides da Cunha and Josué de Castro. Drawing on current literature on subaltern spaces, critical race studies, and the Modernity–Coloniality–Decoloniality project, I especially consider de Andrade’s works that address popular revolts by marginalized and racialized groups in Brazilian history, including the plurisecular saga of black slaves’ quilombos and their role in the abolition of slavery, as well as the formation of Brazilian territories. My main argument is that the marginalized groups analyzed in these works, similar to more studied cases such as Haiti’s revolutionaries, provided examples of subaltern agency and resistance by taking their freedom by themselves, through direct action, without waiting for legitimation from their European counterparts. Subaltern spaces, intended as spaces of resistance, are key to understanding these movements. The fact that members of the radical circuits of Brazilian and Pernambucan geography in the second half of the twentieth century showed awareness of what today is called the coloniality of power and colonial difference accounts for the effectiveness of studying linguistically and culturally different geographical traditions to decolonize (Western and English-speaking) academia. Key Words: alternative geographical traditions, decolonial turn, northeast of Brazil, quilombos, subaltern space.