A Bittersweet Goodbye

To visit the city of Diamantina and only see it’s UNESCO World Heritage neighborhoods is to miss the full story of the city. And while EJB2013 did see some of the happenings in the more marginal parts of town, the bus ride out of the city revealed so much that had yet to be uncovered by a group of 11 students and 3 professors trying to pack myriad activities into five days.

The inner part of the city is carefully tended to, preserving the historic architecture, elaborate woodwork, and very specific color schemes just as they have been for centuries. You can hardly turn 90 degrees without seeing the classic white walls with blue trim that was the standard of the Portuguese crown, and supposed to represent divine protection. But a drive through the outskirts of town, where one is witness to the defiant greens and pinks which adorn the no-frills houses of concrete and brick, is to see the way history informs the present realities of life in Diamantina, and much of Minas Gerais.

The majority of the great wealth that came out of this region never trickled down to those who ended up inhabiting it long-term. Instead, a few profited off of their privileged positions at the expense of many who toiled their lives away in mines and up and down the Royal Road between Diamantina and Rio De Janeiro. Many of the workers were slaves (up until 1888), and many were simply expendable labor being exploited for the profit of business owners and officials. These ancestors are reflected in the often dark-skinned residents of the communities on the margins of Diamantina, indicative of Brazil’s majority population of Afro-Brazilians.

Even as the EJB bus left the town proper, historical influences reared their head. Passing a small village not far from Diamantina itself, the first thing to stick out from afar was the church, standing tall in its coats of white and blue, the largest and most instantly recognizable structure. It seems as though everywhere you go in Minas Gerais, there are constant reminders of where power has been concentrated in Brazilian society.