Mandinga Culture

Through film, discussion and music this international project included a series of award winning documentaries focused on African based cultural and spiritual traditions in Bahia, creativity in dance and music, and spiritual and political leadership of women in Brazil. 

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Events  streamed by CCCADI began in November 2020 - the Month of Black Brazilian Consciousness - and continued until March 2021.

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This virtual project was of critical importance and interest to African diasporic communities. The events highlighted important aspects of the social historical contributions by people of African descent  (who make up 50% of Brazil’s population) - to the creation of Brazil.

Events explored cultural connections (since the 1940s) between communities of color in Brazil and African-American educators and cultural workers who pioneered research on Black Brazil.

Zumbi in Afro-Brazilian cultural history is an important hero and cultural icon. In 1680 Zumbi was the last leader of the Palmares Quilombo - a settlement of escaped Africans, displaced native people, and poor whites in Pernumbuco located in northeastern Brazil. Palmares had an estimated population between 11,000 and 20,000.

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Palmares was the largest settlement of its kind in Brazil, and for nearly a century (1605-1694) resisted numerous Portuguese and Dutch armed incursions to re-enslave the Palmarinos.

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Zumbi’s presence in Brazil cannot be ignored nor dismissed. This project is a cultural celebration of the warrior spirit of Zumbi, as well as that of more contemporary warriors such as the late Marielle Franco, and Brazil’s As Vidas Negras Importam (Black Lives Matter) movement.