Banzeiro òkòtó: Mental to live

In the book “Banzeiro òkòtó: Amazonia the center of the world”. Similarly, Brazilian journalist Eliane Brum invites us to become a forest, to “Amazonize”, we and the world, to release the future.

The title carries in itself a part of the history of Brazil: “Banzeiro” is the word used by the peoples of Amazon to designate the place where the river turns into a vortex. Furthermore, “ÒKòtó” comes from the banzeiro òkòtó: mental live Yoruba language. Consequently, spoken in West Africa, and by many slaves deported to Brazil, a large part of the Brazilian population is descending. Consequently, The word designates a shell that wraps towards infinity.

In her story. the author addresses the subject of whiteocentrism through which we understand nature, women and their bodies, children, animals etc. She tells us about the life stories of those who have been continuously chased for centuries. driven by the colonists, the manufacturers, the rulers and who despite this continue to fight. This book is an invitation to decentralize our eyes. and to learn from these populations who have known the end of the world several times.

Here are some quotes that will undoubtedly make you want to read this book:

“Whiteocentrism denounced by the thinker Yanomami [ndlr : Davi Kopenawa Yanomami. porte-parole d’une communauté indigène d’Amazonie] induces the banzeiro òkòtó: mental live false idea, shared even by respected academics, that the Amazon is a kind of ‘virgin’ “.

“Part of the Amazon is a cultural forest. which means that it has been sculpted for thousands of years mainly by humans, but also by non-human ･ s, which we call animals, in their interaction with the environment”.

“Whites have the annoying obsession to believe that all the stories begin with their arrival. It is generally the opposite that occurs, the stories end under their boots, their weapons and their chainsaws ”.

“I don’t want a disaster and I fight against her. I know, however, that I can survive him. Perhaps not as an individual, but, and it is more important, collectively. I also become a woman of fierce life ”.

“The plot of this book. which is also an invitation to Amazonize the world, far beyond the geographic territory of the Amazon, has banzeiro òkòtó: mental live an explicit proposition: it is time […] listen […]. Listen, not by condescension or by compassion, but out of the final instinct of survival. And maybe if we are lucky. those whose life has been destroyed so many times by those who call themselves civilized will accept to teach us to live after the end of the world. ”

“Banzeiro òkòtó: Amazon Le Center du monde”, by Eliane Brum at the editions of the basement-400 pages, € 24.50.