Trindade and the Struggle for its Territory: A Trajectory of Community Empowerment and Self-Governance in Southeastern Coast of Brazil

Abstract

Trindade is a Caicara community situated in the municipality of Paraty, southeastern coast of Brazil. Its livelihood is based mainly on tourism and small-scale fishing. This chapter gives an account on how people of Trindade have been responding to land tenure pressures since almost 50 years now. The main objective of this chapter is to unveil Trindade dynamics favoring community self-organization and empowerment as coping strategies for territorial autonomy. We focus on answering how the capacity of self-organization and empowerment of the community of Trindade towards its territorial autonomy contributed to the establishment of a community school, named as the School of the Sea. A qualitative case study was used. Data was collected through interviews, participative and direct observations as well as secondary data. Results show that Trindade’s history on self-organizing follows a clear pattern of events which have triggered responses reinforcing self-organization and empowerment of the community. These events are defined by land invasion over the territory of Trindade; tourism boom; implementation of protected areas; reform of a local Festival; and the death of a young resident of the community. The most recent response to these events has been the establishment of the School of the Sea. This initiative was made possible due to the organizational conditions of the community-based organizations of Trindade; the demand of a group of mothers of Trindade; the development of an Education Program in other Caicara communities of Paraty, among others. The School of the Sea emerges as a tool for strengthening, empowering, and emancipating the community through the involvement of children and teenagers disconnected from the memories of the history of Trindade.