Connected and Beyond

Chapter 11, “Connected and Beyond,” explores how and why Palmares has marginalized other histories of diaspora, and it advances a framework for understanding Palmares better while paying attention to other diasporic histories. In addition to another linguistic case study, the chapter shows how much of the intellectual production about Palmares during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries flowed through Rio de Janeiro, a site of multiple representations of Zumbi. The chapter returns to Rio Grande do Norte, where a descendant of Manoel Lopes identifies as an heir to the man who killed Zumbi. Lopes did not kill Zumbi, and the story shows how long and impactful the inheritances of some Palmares conquerors has been. By contrast, a Black quilombo community traces histories that have nothing to do with Palmares and yet have found that calling themselves the “heirs of Zumbi” is an effective way to gain visibility and advocate for rights.