Saberes locais e fomento comunitário: uma estratégia de articulação entre arranjos produtivos e turismo de experiência na comunidade de Damásio em Guimarães – MA

Abstract

Traditional communities play a very important role within Brazilian society, as they are active representatives in the midst of culture, customs and traditions. Experience tourism makes use of this curiosity by broadening the interest in learning more about new cultures and regions, also transforming it into a business opportunity, which, in addition to contributing to the identity aspects of these communities, generates greater possibilities for economic growth in these territories, relating them to productive arrangements, ways of doing things and local knowledge, used for this specific purpose, as tools of attractiveness and promotion of tourist activity. The presented project, financed by CAPES/CNPQ, is a result of the cooperation between the PDPG/PGCULT Amazônia Legal Maranhense, which has as its main objective to develop the potential of these regions through analysis, planning and technical and scientific development to boost the its economy, from the perspective of thinking about possibilities and actions that improve both the human and the social and economic development of this territory. The idea is the result of observing the current need to include new characters and scenarios, the so restricted tourist activity in our state, an activity that is not streamlined and exclusive, which places too much value on scenarios and characters that represent the "glorious past" of Maranhão ( represented by a white elite, intellectualized slaveholders, that is, a dominant elite, still praised by an official and institutionalized historiography), but which do not reflect the peculiarities and complexities of the real day-to-day of our society, nor its complex of beliefs and knowledge, thus acting as anachronistic and displaced mirrors of the current reality, which causes us great restlessness and dissatisfaction. For this elucidation, the research was carried out in two distinct stages: the first stage, still in 2021, was carried out by an exploratory study to recognize the Quilombola community as a whole, in this context two reconnaissance visits were made to the area with the collaboration of local agents and leaders of productive arrangements that took place at different times of the year; the second stage, in 2022, the investigation aimed to know the cultural, religious manifestations, natural assets, knowledge and ways of doing in the community, with the aim of perpetrating a broader and more focused interpretation for the purposes of tourist activity, with circumstantial results in the that concerns the desire of the local community and the real possibilities of an increase in experience tourism in the region. Therefore, this research aims to contribute to discussions about the relationship between social dynamics and economic activity within the context of these communities, in particular, in the case of the remaining quilombola community of Damásio in Guimarães (MA).