“We are a territory, a territory of struggles”: Community and Resistance Tourism in a Territorial Museum on the Outskirts of São Paulo

Abstract

Summary The case presents an interpretation of the actions of valorization of cultural heritage mobilized by the political-cultural collective Comunidade Cultural Quilombaque. Active in the neighborhood of Perus, in the north-western part of the municipality of São Paulo, since 2005, Quilombaque shows itself to be a pole of agglutination of several artistic and political manifestations and other groups in the territory. From the consolidation of the Territorial Museum Tekoa Jopo’i and the Queixadas Agency, they have elaborated a path of trails that go through the neighborhood’s heritage that is marginalized by public preservation policies. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with central agents of the movement, in addition to participant observation on community tourism trails. The symbolic mediation promoted by the Museum educators brings out narratives of struggle eclipsed by the official policies of cultural heritage. The keys of solidarity and sharing operate by allowing a horizontal use of the riches organized by the Territorial Museum. The action of the Quilombaque Cultural Community transits in a fleeting limit between tourism and resistance, its tourism shows not only the resistance of the territory but is also organized with the community in such a way as to resist the tendencies of predatory tourism. On the one hand, the visits amplify voices silenced by hegemonic narratives. On the other hand, the very conception and organization of the trails are done in opposition to other models of tourism and predatory development. Information © The Authors 2023