‘Dandara no Cerrado’ (1) Afro-Descendant Women’s Group

The group acts against racism and the effects of patriarchal hierarchy that affect women, causing their discrimination in all fields of human rights. The combination of these two factors causes Afro-descendant women to be the most affected group by social exclusion in the unequal Brazilian society.

Dandara(1) thus has the mission to contribute to building a just, pluralistic, anti racist and sexist and solidarity society, affirming the right to citizenship from a feminist perspective, in the context of educational actions on gender, race, Afro-descendant women, ethnic-cultural entrepreneurship, employment and income generation, housing, human rights and reproductive health. Through its work, it seeks to intervene directly in municipal and state public policies for Afro-descendant women and girls.

The collective, which operates in the State of Goiás, Midwest of the country, is part of the National Forum of Afro-descendant Women , the Brazilian Women’s Group , the Network of Care for Women, Children and Adolescents in Situation of Violence, the National Council for the Promotion of Racial Equality  and the Afro-descendant Research Network .

The Project

Dandara will articulate NGOs, organized groups and quilombolas(3) in 14 cities of the State of Goiás, conducting a seminar for 60 people to discuss human rights and ethnic-racial and gender discrimination in the context of the International Year for People of African Descent.

Urban communities and their leaders will be benefited, especially those who work with Afro-descendant people and women in the suburbs of the metropolitan area of Goiânia, in the municipalities of Goiânia, Aparecida de Goiânia, Trindade and Senador Canedo. The project will reach also quilombolas‘ communities in the municipalities of Cavalcante, Teresina de Goiás, Monte Alegre de Goiás, Mineiros, Minaçu, Barro Alto, Santa Rita do Novo Destino, Cidade Ocidental, Cromínia and São Luís do Norte.

The project includes the articulation of the Network of Afro-Descendant and Quilombola Entities in the state of Goiás  and the launch of the Political Platform of Afro-Descendant Women of the State of Goiás, built as a result of a process developed between the years 2008 and 2010.

(1) N.T.: ‘cerrado’ is a type of vegetation formation which could be simplified as a Brazilian savanna.

(2) N.T.: ‘Ifaradá’ is a word deriving from the Yoruba African language and means ‘resistance through knowledge’.

(3) N.T.: Quilombola is a person who lives in a quilombo. Quilombo is a century-old community set up by former slaves in Brazil. ‘The contemporary concept of the remaining communities of quilombos encompasses the prevalence of an autonomous process of production within the communities, based on specific territorialities socially established as a result of acts of resistance.’ (ALMEIDA, Alfredo Wagner. ‘Os quilombolas e a Base de Lançamentos de Foguetes de Alcântara’. Ministry of Environment, Brasília, 2006.)