Sign placed outside the Itacarambi Vazanteiros Association headquarters.
"If the vazanteiro doesn't farm, the city doesn't eat."
Itacarambi - MG, 2015
by Sara Gehren
Vazanteiros from the Lower São Francisco River Area
The vazanteiros have an identity deeply influenced by indigenous, quilombola and ribeirinho populations. They live in the margins of the São Francisco River and have an intricate relationship with its cycles and dynamics. Because of that, they have a profound knowledge of the river, which affects their culture, their custom and their farming techniques. The São Francisco, more than a body of water, is seen as an entity, a home, a relative. The advancements of the agribusiness in the region came with environmental impacts suffered by Velho Chico (an affectionate name for the São Francisco River). And, with that, so does the vazanteiros’ lifestyle suffer.
The human occupation of the São Francisco dates from 2000 to 8000 years ago. And, as the many different cultures and ethnicities that are part of modern Brazil arrived, the human diversity in the region also multiplied. Even so, they are still continuously building up from those millenia of accumulated knowledge.
Matias Cardoso - MG
Girl dancing at sunset in the São Francisco River.
Pau Preto, Matias Cardoso - MG, 2015
by Sara Gehren
Pau Preto, Matias Cardoso - MG, 2015
by Sara Gehren
The history of resistance of the vazanteiros from Pau Preto goes back to the mid-twentieth century, when private entrepreneurs and the government started to displace traditional communities in the São Francisco River area to enable the flourishing of agribusiness in the region. To the end of the 1970’s, however, the vazanteiros saw an opportunity to reclaim their lifestyle and their land, where they have been settled for the last 400 years. That was made possible mainly through the occupation of Pau Preto Island.
After their return, though, the attacks to the Pau Preto community didn’t stop. Threats came from private enterprises and obnoxious public projects, making the vazanteiros live decades under eviction threats. The urgency to become politically organized made them create the Vazanteiros em Movimento movement, by which Pau Preto and several other communities could exchange information and plan their political strategies towards the official acknowledgment of their traditional identities and their land rights. Together, they displayed important achievements, such as the retake of Fazenda Catelda, under the ownership of a private company. Another victory of the traditional communities from the north of Minas Gerais was the approval of the State Law 21.147, which establishes the State Policy for Sustainable Development of Traditional Populations and Communities from Minas Gerais. In its 3rd article, it quotes:
“It is the general goal of this policy to promote the integral development of
traditional populations and communities, with emphasis on the acknowledgement,
strengthening and garantization of their territorial, social and economic rights,
respecting and valuing their cultural identity, as well as their ways of organizing,
their work relations and their institutions.”
traditional populations and communities, with emphasis on the acknowledgement,
strengthening and garantization of their territorial, social and economic rights,
respecting and valuing their cultural identity, as well as their ways of organizing,
their work relations and their institutions.”
Take a deeper dive into the Vazanteiros' history and way of living in this documentary:
