Between earth and sky: fluids and forces of life on the riverbank

Abstract

On the banks of the São Francisco, there are some quilombola collectives that highlight the centrality of this river in their lives, being considered by them as a living organism with agency, as it “walks”, “eats” and “leaves” the land, creating islands, landscapes and making people, animals, plants and knowledges move. This “circulatory system” of the waters produces the life of the land and the living beings of the place, who are also affected by the influence of the “government” of the moon. In this work, I try to describe the quilombola knowledges about the landscape and how it is constituted from the influence of the waters and the stars.