Valongo: An uncomfortable legacy

Abstract

This article discusses the archaeological and sociopolitical action that brought Valongo Wharf in Rio de Janeiro back to life. This action aimed to put the remains of the past in the service of present-day causes like the fight for recognition, respect, social justice, and fundamental rights for Brazil’s Black population. But although widely recognized by Black and White people alike, Valongo causes discomfort. Reflecting the current resurgence in racism and religious intolerance, Valongo is unwelcome for many White people because it foregrounds the Black population. For other White Brazilians, it exhumes evidence of the brutal subjugation of Black people by Whites occurring in Brazil until the late nineteenth century, a shameful episode they would rather forget. In parallel, many Afro-descendants resist an undesirable and shaming association of themselves with slavery that is seen to perpetuate their subalternity. Responding to this multidimensional context, the article seeks to instigate a reflection on the limitations of a White archaeologist, inevitably possessing an implicit bias, investigating an archaeological site particularly sensitive to Afrodescendants in Brazil and elsewhere, and to encourage Black people to more actively engage in the material recovery of their own past, work that has thus far been predominantly performed by White archaeologists.