Palmarino Voices

In analyzing the Quilombo dos Palmares through the lens of art produced by the colonizing authorities that hoped to eliminate their community altogether, it is imperative to note that we fundamentally lack their own agentive perspectives. Not only have many records relating to premodern slavery been burned, lost, or destroyed over the years, in the case of Palmares these records never even existed within the Western epistemic boundaries of archiving. While this may seem a trite or obvious absence, it is one that could be unintentionally employed to further attempt to capture or confine Palmarinos. As modern scholars, we cannot presume to know what Palmarinos believed or thought. We cannot assume that they reacted to the Dutch or Portuguese colonizers in certain ways. We cannot entrap them in anachronistic constructs of resistance. The absence of Palmarino voices leads to the dangerous possibility of speaking for them, an act which would only further contribute to their erasure and suppression as individuals with agency if handled improperly. To the extent possible, we must continuously acknowledge their absence and actively choose not to attempt to capture them in the present day.