Autoestranhamento e identidade territorial: onde estão os moradores do Alto de Ondina na Universidade Federal da Bahia?

Abstract

The Brazilian necropolitical system lays bare the multifaceted nature of inequality, underscoring the necessity of decolonial practices. However, it is essential to develop non-white-centred thinking within the realms of teaching and learning to understand our territorial identity as Afro-diasporic and Indigenous Latinos in Pindorama lands—that is, a non-Eurocentric identity. The challenge lies in how to make education a liberating practice capable of transgressing the colonial fundamentalism inherent in traditional teaching. The pseudo-intellectual white performance in academic activities silences cultures and bodies, restricting interaction, access, and retention in these spaces. This perpetuates self-alienation and limits individuals' ability to be and belong, thereby sustaining the hegemonic monoculture. The normalisation of popular detachment that public higher education institutions persist in maintaining fuels the unrest that forms the basis of this research. It seeks to analyse and comprehend socio-spatial realities and structures, focusing on their spatial dimension integrated with UFBA (Federal University of Bahia), while mapping accessibility and entry pathways to the university. The neighbourhood of Alto de Ondina in Salvador, Bahia, was chosen as the research site. Between 2022 and 2023, 36 residents of Alto de Ondina were interviewed. Active listening serves as the foundation for developing this territorial analysis. Therefore, a social action cartography approach was applied, understanding and defending Alto de Ondina as a Black neighbourhood. Education has become cognitive capital sustained by monocultural knowledge, intellect, and values. In response to this reality, the study aims to immerse itself in the space to which the university belongs and awaken the decolonisation of thought, thereby strengthening forms of resistance against necropolitics. The objective is to assist the local population in demystifying their presence in public education institutions, enabling territorial identification, overcoming self-estrangement, and fostering socio-spatial interaction. The Afro-descendant Research Methodology by Professor Henrique Cunha Junior and the concept of Intersectionality by Dr Carla Akotirene were utilised, both guided by the development of decolonial thought and practice.