Making Possible Worlds

Building Popular Sovereignty with the Strength of the Earth, with Selma Santos and Joelson Ferreira

Authors

  • Bianca Franca Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
  • Guilherme Eugênio Moreira Universidade Federal Fluminense
  • Joyce Delfim Universidade Federal da Bahia
  • Joelson Assentamento Terra Vista
  • Selma Santos Quilombo Engenho da Ponte

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14244/2238-3069.2025/32

Keywords:

Povos tradicionais e resistência;, colapsos ambientais, imaginação sociológica, Território, Epistemologias não hegemônicas

Abstract

This interview is an adaptation of the second edition of the conversation circle "Making Possible Worlds: Building Popular Sovereignty with the Strength of the Earth," which was part of the program for the 75th anniversary congress of the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), held in 2021. The circle was originally broadcast on UFBA TV's YouTube channel. On this occasion, we had the pleasure of having special guests—leaders active in defending their territories in the Recôncavo region and southern Bahia: Selma Santos, a popular educator, quilombola from the Engenho da Ponte Quilombo in Cachoeira, member of the Quilombola Council of the Iguape Basin and Valley and the Iguape Bay Marine Extractive Reserve in Maragogipe; and Joelson Ferreira, a farmer from the Terra Vista Settlement in Arataca and founder of the Teia dos Povos (People's Web), a network of communities, territories, peoples, and political organizations, both rural and urban.

Our goal was to foster a moment of exchange that transcended colonial, modern, and developmentalist regimes and pointed to inspirations that would help us respond and mobilize against the various anti-democratic and deadly attacks that sell the false promise of progress and tear Brazil, Latin America, and the world apart.

The discussion was organized by the study group Collaborations Beyond the End, formed by Bianca Zacarias França, Guilherme Eugênio, and Joyce Delfim—anthropologists and an art historian—interested in establishing spaces for collaboration that help us reflect on the potential of activism, art, and the humanities beyond the end of the world, both in the production of academic knowledge and in life skills. Launched on the autumnal equinox of 2020, the group seeks to engage with authors who propose imagining creative solutions for life amidst catastrophes, dystopias, and collapses.

How should we feel, think, and act in times of climate and humanitarian catastrophes, socio-environmental disasters involving large-scale projects, and pandemics? The contemporary context urges us to forge alliances to confront old problems that unfold in new forms. Listening and sharing experiences can inspire creative possibilities for opening up to multiple worlds.

References

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KOPENAWA, Davi; ALLBERT, Bruce. A queda do céu: palavras de um xamã Yanomami. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras;2015. 730p

KRENAK, Ailton. Ideias para adiar o fim do mundo. Companhia das Letras, 2020.

STENGERS, Isabelle. No Tempo das catástrofes. Cosacnaify, 2015.

TSING, Anna Lowenhaupt. 2022. O cogumelo no fim do mundo: Sobre a possibilidade de vida nas ruínas do capitalismo. Tradução de Jorge Menna Barreto e Yudi Rafael. São Paulo: n-1 edições. 412 p

Published

2025-12-19