Legitimacy, Authenticity, and Authority in Brazilian Quilombo Tourism: Critical Reflexive Practice Among Cultural Experts

Abstract

Using a critical tourism studies framework, I discuss the participation of "cultural experts" (anthropologists, historians, and cultural heritage professionals) in the production of legitimacy, authenticity, and sovereignty of Brazilian quilombos. Quilombos are defined as communities composed of peoples of African, indigenous, and European descent, who constructed independent societies outside the plantation system. I address the process of cultural experts whose individual, institutional, and interdisciplinary identities are intertwined with power–knowledge relations in both academic and applied contexts. I focus on the role of these professionals in two main issues: 1) the debate over conceptualizing and identifying quilombos; and 2) the legitimation of quilombo cultural heritage for tourism purposes. Through this discussion, I aim to problematize scholarly reflexivity, which has permeated anthropological and social sciences debates since the 1990s and critical tourism studies debates since the 2000s.