Diego Jesus

This project explores environmental racism and resilience in four Indigenous and quilombola (maroon-descended) communities in Brazil, focusing on their adaptation to environmental challenges while maintaining cultural and spiritual ties to ancestral territories. Facing drought along the Amazon, Tapajós, and Negro Rivers in the North and pollution in the northeastern Paraguaçu River, these communities are engaged in an existential struggle against extractivism and the impacts of climate change. This study proposes the concept of “shifting banks” to capture these evolving realities. Using an innovative methodology that combines digital mapping tools with documentary filmmaking, the research employs GIS technology to create storytelling maps that weave geospatial data with lived experiences and traditional knowledge formations. The methods respond to the expressed needs of communities with whom the project collaborates, archiving their lives in a way that supports their social and political mobilizing.