The powerful and essential book A Terra Dá, A Terra Quer (The Earth Gives, The Earth Wants), by Antônio Bispo dos Santos, the unforgettable Nego Bispo, is a philosophical journey that dismantles the structure of colonial thought. Our gratitude goes to the Raízes Sustainable Development Book Club for having led us to this transformative reading.
Contracolonialism: Against the Linear Order
Nego Bispo’s main contribution is the concept of Contracolonialism . Unlike decolonizing (which presupposes leaving a state of colonization), Bispo asserts that peoples like the Quilombolas have never been dominated in their essence, maintaining circularity and ancestry alive. The fight is, therefore, actively against colonial persistence, which he associates with linear, Euro-Christian, and predatory logic.
His criticism of Cosmophobia—the fear of the cosmos and contempt for nature—is sharp. Bispo sees Humanism as a failure, as it places Man at the center, above the Earth and other beings, perpetuating exploitation and destruction.
Read more about Nego Bispo’s origin:
The Confluence: Nego Bispo and Ailton Krenak in Dialogue
Nego Bispo’s project is a convergence of knowledge. The voice that best resonates in unison with the Quilombola thinker is that of the Indigenous leader and intellectual Ailton Krenak.
Both converge in criticizing the concept of Development and the societal model that prioritizes profit over life. Nego Bispo states that “To develop is to disconnect” (to distance oneself from the cosmos and originality).
Ailton Krenak, in works such as Ideas to Postpone the End of the World, also proposes suspending this idea of a linear future, arguing that we need to “slow down the sky“ in order to relearn how to dream collectively about the Earth.
Where quilombolas see circularity and reciprocity, indigenous peoples, through Krenak, see the need to activate our ability to narrate the cosmos and perceive the interconnection of all lives. Their struggle is the same: to condemn the logic of accumulation and disposal, proposing a life based on Diversality.
Watch Nego Bispo explaining the central concept (Interview Content):
- Nego Bispo: anti-colonialism and climate justice
Watch the meeting between the two thinkers:
- Cosmologies of Money | Nego Bispo and Ailton Krenak (Essential dialogue on money and countercolonialism)
It is important to note that Nego Bispo uses the term Pindorama instead of Brazil. Pindorama is the original name, in the Tupi language, which means “Land of Palms” or “Region of Palms.” By using this term, Nego Bispo and other countercolonial thinkers subvert the nomenclature imposed by the invaders and restore the memory of a territory that existed (and resisted) long before it was named and framed by the European project. The use of Pindorama is a political act that reaffirms Diversality and sovereignty of the original peoples over the territory.
The depth and relevance of Nego Bispo establish him not only as a thinker, but as an eternal voice. The work “A Terra Dá, A Terra Quer” transcends time, acting as a beacon of ancestral wisdom that exposes the fragility of our contemporary world.Bispo offers us a timeless manual of resistance and existence, ensuring that his legacy—and the wisdom of Quilombo Saco Curtume—remains undeniably wise and painfully relevant, illuminating the path to a more diverse, respectful, and, above all, necessary world for all beings.
