From Clay to Ceramics

From the ethnography of knowledge to the creative economy

Abstract

This is an account of the experience of the implantation of the traditional ceramic production nucleus, carried out after a long practical work and a case study referring to the Pataxó peoples of Porto Seguro, BA. This project was focused on the resumption of ceramics as an alternative for education and income generation, in the perspective of a Social Technology, created from the ancestral knowledge of the traditional peoples involved. It is an intervention proposal, supported by action research, which started from the ways of knowledge and practices of traditional communities and reached a truly decolonial curriculum for the technical course of Artisan in ceramics. Being related to the traditional knowledge of clay, our work started from the understanding that this knowledge triggers social processes and practices and their actions, can be considered as potentially formative and educating. We aimed to observe, implement, register and evaluate the potential of ceramics as an art-educational occupation, as a resumption and with a strong social appeal that potentially generates income. We have been observing the relationships and contradictions in the socio-cultural context and the implications of this cultural resumption of ancestral practices and sabers in the daily life of the community of Aldeia da Jaqueira in Porto Seguro, Bahia. We used dialogical methodologies for this, since the project was supported by theoretical contributions from Social Anthropology, Post-coloniality, the foundations of ethnic-racial relations, the creative and solidary economy and the economy of culture.

Keyword: Pataxó Knowledge; Social Technology; Cultural Resumption