Thesis (Ph.D.)--RAND Graduate School, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

<p>Ancestry is a complex and layered concept, but it must be operationalized for its objective use in genetic studies. Critical decisions in research analyses, clinical practice, and forensic investigations are based on genetic ancestry inference. For example, in genetic association studies for clinical and applied research, investigators may need to isolate one population of interest from a worldwide dataset to avoid false positive results, or in human identification, ancestry inferences can help reveal the identity of unknown DNA evidence by narrowing down a suspect list. Many studies seek to improve ancestry inference for these reasons. The research presented here offers valuable resources for exploring and improving genetic ancestry inference and intelligence toward identity. </p> <p>First, analyses with ‘big data’ in genomics is a resource-intensive task that requires optimization. Therefore, this research introduces a suite of automated Snakemake workflows, <em>Iliad</em>, that was developed to give the research community an easy-to-learn, hands-off computational tool for genomic data processing of multiple data formats. <em>Iliad</em> can be installed and run on a Google Cloud Platform remote server instance in less than 20 minutes when using the provided installation code in the ReadTheDocs documentation. The workflows support raw data processing from various genetic data types including microarray, sequence, and compressed alignment data, as well as performing micro-workflows on variant call format (VCF) files to merge data or lift over variant positions. When compared to a similar workflow, <em>Iliad </em>completed processing one sample’s raw paired-end sequence reads to a human-legible VCF file in 7.6 hours which was three-times faster than the other workflow. This suite of workflows is paramount towards building reference population panels from human whole-genome sequence (WGS) data which is useful in many research studies including imputation, ancestry estimation, and ancestry informative marker (AIM) discovery.</p> <p>Second, there are persistent challenges in ancestry inference for individuals of the Middle East, especially with the use of AIMs. This research demonstrates a population genomics study pertaining to the Middle East, novel population data from Lebanon (n=190), and an unsupervised genetic clustering approach with WGS data from the 1000 Genomes Project and Human Genome Diversity Project. These efforts for AIM discovery identified two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) based on their high allelic frequency differences between the Middle East and populations in Eurasia, namely Europe and South/Central Asia. These candidate AIMs were evaluated with the most current and comprehensive AIM panel to date, the VISAGE Enhanced Tool (ET), using an external validation set of Middle Eastern WGS data (n=137). Instead of relying on pre-defined biogeographic ancestry labels to confirm the accuracy of validation sample ancestry inference, this research produced a deep, unsupervised ADMIXTURE analysis on 3,469 worldwide WGS samples with nearly 2 million independent SNPs (r2 < 0.1) which provided a genetic “ground truth”. This resulted in 136/137 validation samples as Middle East and provided valuable insights toward reference samples with varying co-ancestries that ultimately affects the classification of admixed individuals. Novel deep learning methods, specifically variational autoencoders, were introduced for visualizing one hundred percent of the genetic variance found using these AIMS in an alternative method to PCA and presents distinct population clusters in a robust ancestry space that remains static for the projection of unknown samples to aid in ancestry inference and human identification. </p> <p>Third, this research delves into a craniofacial study that makes improvements toward key intelligence information about physical identity by exploring the relationship between dentition and facial morphology with an advanced phenotyping approach paired with robust dental parameters used in clinical practice. Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) imagery was used to analyze the hard and soft tissue of the face at the same time. Low-to-moderate partial correlations were observed in several comparisons of dentition and soft tissue segments. These results included partial correlations of: i) inter-molar width and soft tissue segments nearest the nasal aperture, the lower maxillary sinuses, and a portion of the upper cheek, and ii) of lower incisor inclination and soft tissue segments overlapping the mentolabial fold. These results indicate that helpful intelligence information, potentially leading towards identity in forensic investigations, may be present where hard tissue structures are manifested in an observable way as a soft tissue phenotype. This research was a valuable preliminary study that paves the way towards the addition of facial hard tissue structures in combination with external soft tissue phenotypes to advance fundamental facial genetic research. Thus, CBCT scans greatly add to the current facial imagery landscape available for craniofacial research and provide hard and soft tissue data, each with measurable morphological variation among individuals. When paired with genetic association studies and functional biological experiments, this will ultimately lead to a greater understanding of the intricate coordination that takes place in facial morphogenesis, and in turn, guide clinical orthodontists to better treatment modalities with an emphasis on personalized medicine. Lastly, it aids intelligence methodologies when applied within the field of forensic anthropology.</p>

BACKGROUND: Uruguay exhibits one of the highest rates of breast cancer in Latin America, similar to those of developed nations, the reasons for which are not completely understood. In this study we investigated the effect that ancestral background has on breast cancer susceptibility among Uruguayan women. METHODS: We carried out a case-control study of 328 (164 cases, 164 controls) women enrolled in public hospitals and private clinics across the country. We estimated ancestral proportions using a panel of nuclear and mitochondrial ancestry informative markers (AIMs) and tested their association with breast cancer risk. RESULTS: Nuclear individual ancestry in cases was (mean ± SD) 9.8 ± 7.6% African, 13.2 ± 10.2% Native American and 77.1 ± 13.1% European, and in controls 9.1 ± 7.5% African, 14.7 ± 11.2% Native American and 76.2 ± 14.2% European. There was no evidence of a difference in nuclear or mitochondrial ancestry between cases and controls. However, European mitochondrial haplogroup H was associated with breast cancer (OR = 2.0; 95% CI 1.1, 3.5). CONCLUSIONS: We have not found evidence that overall genetic ancestry differs between breast cancer patients and controls in Uruguay but we detected an association of the disease with a European mitochondrial lineage, which warrants further investigation.

Raça e etnia são substitutos ruins para ancestralidade genética. O uso de marcadores genéticos de ancestralidade melhoram o quadro significativamente, especialmente em populações miscigenadas como a brasileira. Nós determinamos o genótipo de 547 pessoas de São Paulo, Brasil de 90 marcadores de ancestralidade que distinguem origem semítica de européia. Ancestralidade centro-sul asiática (CSA) correspondeu a 29% do total, o segundo maior grupo. Outras análises indicam que esta contribuição genética semítica é derivada dos cristãos-novos durante o período colonial brasileiro. Nós então investigamos se ancestralidade africana geneticamente determinada está associada a alterações neuropatológicas comunmente ligada à demência, conforme sugerido por estudos de negros nos Estados Unidos. Nós estudamos 202 cérebros obtidos entre 2004 e 2009 no banco de encéfalos do Grupo de Estudos de Envelhecimento Cerebral da Faculdade de Medicina da USP, identificando a presença de placas neuríticas, emaranhados neurofibrilares, arterioloesclerose, infartos cerebrais e corpúsculos de Lewy. Nós também ajustamos os resultados para múltiplos fatores de risco e genótipo de APOE. Ao contrário de estudos prévios, indivíduos com ancestralidade africana apresentaram menor prevalência de placas neuríticas nas análises univariada e multivariadas. Os resultados são robustos e não se alteram quando restringimos a comparação aos que se auto-declaram brancos, nem quando ajustamos para genótipo de APOE4, ou quando ajustamos para idade e sexo somente. Pela primeira vez nós demonstramos com marcadores genéticos de ancestralidade, que ancestralidade africana é protetora para a neuropatologia da doença de Alzheimer. Nosso uso de ancestralidade determinada geneticamente tem implicações diretas no estudo da genética de doenças complexas / Race/ethnicity is poor surrogate for estimating ancestry. Genetic testing using ancestryinformative markers are a significant improvement, especially in admixed populations such as the Brazilian population. We have genotyped 547 inhabitants of São Paulo, Brazil for 90 ancestryinformative markers that have previously been shown to distinguish individuals with Semitic and European ancestry. Central-South Asian (CSA) ancestry emerged as the second largest cluster within our population (29%). Further comparisons indicated that this semitic contribution to the Brazilian gene pool is likely derived from Portuguese New Christians during colonial times. We then investigated whether genetically-determined African ancestry is associated with neuropathological changes commonly associated with dementia, as suggested by studies in African Americans. We studied 202 brains obtained in the brain bank of the Brazilian Aging Brain Study Group of the University of Sao Paulo between 2004 and 2009 for presence of neuritic plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, small vessel disease, brain infarcts, and Lewy bodies. We also adjusted the results for multiple environmental risk factors and APOE genotype. Contrary to previous studies, subjects with African ancestry showed lower prevalence of neuritic plaques in the univariate and multivariate analysis. The results are robust and are not altered when studying only those who self-defined themselves as Whites, when adjusting for APOE4 status only, or when adjusting for age and sex only. We therfore showed for the first time, using geneticallydetermined ancestry markers, that African ancestry is highly protective of Alzheimer\'s disease neuropathology. Our use of genetically-determined ancestry has led to results that have direct implications on the study of the genetics of complex diseases

Apesar da intensa mistura étnica na formação da população Brasileira, pequenos grupos isolados ainda podem ser encontrados, principalmente representados pelas tribos indígenas e comunidades remanescentes de quilombo. As comunidades de Barra (BA), São Gonçalo (BA) e Valongo (SC) apresentam diferentes histórias demográficas de formação. Os AIMs (Marcadores Informativos de Ancestralidade) são capazes de revelar essas diferenças pois apresentam grandes diferenciais de freqüência () entre os principais grupos populacionais parentais (africanos, ameríndios, europeus) e, por esta razão, constituem polimorfismos com maior poder discriminante em estimativas de mistura étnica. No presente trabalho, foram testados oito AIMs na análise de três remanescentes de quilombo, comparados a duas amostras de população urbana brasileira. Um destes marcadores, o alelo CYP1A1*2C, foi testado em sete aldeias de quatro tribos da Amazônia Central Brasileira, completando a análise dos outros sete marcadores previamente realizados nestas populações ameríndias. Os objetivos, além da descrição formal de tais populações, incluíam comparar eventuais diferenças entre as comunidades quilombolas e verificar a eficiência relativa destes marcadores em estudos deste tipo. A comparação das freqüências do alelo CYP1A1*2C entre os ameríndios e populações mundiais confirma este alelo como um excelente AIM para diferenciar ameríndios de europeus e africanos, informação importante em estimativas de mistura em populações trihíbridas Brasileiras. As freqüências de oito AIMs (FY-Null, RB, LPL, AT3, Sb19.3, APO, PV92 e CYP1A1*2C) foram então estimadas nas comunidades remanescentes de quilombo de Barra (n=47), São Gonçalo (n=51) e Valongo (n=25) e nas populações urbanas de Jequié (n=47) e Hemosc (Hemocentro de Santa Catarina, n=25) a partir dos fenótipos determinados por PCR e PCRRFLP. As análises estatísticas empregaram programas já descritos (GENEPOP, DISPAN, GDA, STRUCTURE, MVSP e ADMIX 2 e 3). As freqüências alélicas e genotípicas diferenciam todas as comunidades remanescentes e urbanas, fato corroborado pelos valores de FST (p<0,01) par a par entre elas. Outros valores de FST mostram similaridades da comunidade de Barra com africanos e da amostra Hemosc com Europeus, o que é confirmado pelas estimativas do componente africano em Barra (95%) e europeu no Hemosc (83%), como também pelas análises de componente principal. Nestas últimas, o locus FY foi a variável de maior peso (loading) sobre o primeiro componente principal e o PV92 o locus de maior peso sobre o segundo componente principal. Este método demonstrou-se particularmente adequado, pois, em ambas as análises, os dois componentes principais explicaram mais do que 95% da variância total. As estimativas dos componentes africano, europeu e ameríndio em São Gonçalo (68%, 22% e 10%) e JQ (52%, 31% e 17%) mostram que os AIMs geram estimativas de contribuição africana maiores do que as obtidas por STRs autossômicos, YSTRs e marcadores clássicos nas mesmas populações. A estimativa do componente africano em Valongo (68%) foi menor que a obtida a partir dos marcadores clássicos. Isto poderia ser considerado como evidência da maior eficiência destes marcadores na quantificação do componente africano, uma vez que o aumento das estimativas não foi generalizado e, portanto, provavelmente não viciado. Conclui-se que os AIMs seriam mais eficientes para o cálculo da proporção relativa dos diferentes componentes formadores destas populações, pois conduziriam a estimativas mais realistas. / In spite of the high degree of inter-ethnic admixture that characterizes the formation of the Brazilian population, small isolated groups, mainly represented by indigenous Amerindian tribes and communities known as quilombo remnants, can still be found. Barra (BA), São Gonçalo (BA) and Valongo (SC) are communities that presented different demographic histories during their formations. The AIMs (Ancestry Informative Markers) are capable of disclosing such differences due to the fact that they present large frequency differentials () between the major ethnic groups that gave origin to the Brazilian population. This provides more reliable information for interethnic admixture estimates. Given that, the present study aimed at establishing the differences regarding inter-ethnic admixture between these three quilombo remnants, which present different demographic histories. The CYP1A1*2C allele frequencies were established in four indigenous tribes from the Brazilian Amazon, which are characterized by low admixture degrees with non-Amerindian people (2-3%), and were compared with frequencies obtained in worldwide populations. This comparison evidenced that such allele is extremely useful for setting Amerindians apart from Europeans and Africans, which is an outstanding feature for estimation of admixture proportions in Brazilian tri-hybrid populations. Allele frequencies of eight AIMs (FY-Null, RB, LPL, AT3, Sb19.3, APO, PV92 and CYP1A1*2C) were obtained in three quilombo remnant communities, Barra (n=47), São Gonçalo (n=51) and Valongo (n=25), and in urban population samples from Jequié (n=47) and Hemosc (n=25), by means of PCR and PCR-RFLP. Statistical analysis were carried out employing the GENEPOP, DISPAN, GDA, STRUCTURE, MVSP and ADMIX 2 and 3 softwares. Allele and genotype frequencies are able to differentiate all quilombo remnant and urban samples, an aspect corroborated by the pair-wise FST (p<0.01) values. Other FST estimates reveal similarities between Barra and Africans and between Hemosc and Europeans, which are supported by the respective African and European admixture estimates in Barra (95%) and Hemosc (83%) and by the Principal Component Analysis. In the latter analysis, the FY locus consisted in the variable with greatest influence (loading) over the first component. On the other hand, the variable PV92 exhibited the highest influence over the second component analysis. This method has proven to be very reliable, given that, in both analyses, the first two principal components explained more than 95% of the total variance. African, European and Amerindian inter-ethnic admixture estimates in São Gonçalo (68%, 22% and 10%) and JQ (52%, 31% and 17%) emphasize the fact that the AIMs provides higher African contribution estimates than the ones obtained by means of autosomal and Y-linked STRs and classical markers in the same populations. African contribution estimated in Valongo (68%) was lower than the one obtained by means of classical markers. Taken together, these estimates may be an evidence of higher effectiveness of this set of markers in quantifying the African component, as long as the increase in African contribution was not generalized and, hence, probably unbiased. In conclusion, the AIMs are more effective in estimating the admixture proportions of the different ethnic components that gave origin to these populations, given that they resulted in more reliable estimates.

Esta dissertação de mestrado é uma reflexão sobre uma pesquisa educacional de campo que contemplou o hip-hop como cultura juvenil e cujo objetivo era construir fazeres educacionais que se valem do hip-hop. O texto discute a experiência educacional que teve lugar na organização não governamental Casa do Zezinho, no extremo sul da cidade de São Paulo. A instituição oferecia oficinas de hip-hop a jovens de ambos os sexos, entre 13 e 17 anos e regularmente matriculados na rede pública, e minha intervenção se deu nesse contexto, em parceria com a professora de hip-hop. Descrevo o itinerário da pesquisa contemplando aspectos institucionais, subjetivos e de articulação do projeto durante sua realização. Minha intervenção consistiu em exercícios e atividades de natureza cultural como a produção de textos, grafitti e coreografias matizados pela motivação e pelo despertar de uma consciência crítica, artística e, principalmente, de pertença à ancestralidade africana, arrancada de suas raízes pelo processo histórico escravagista colonial cujos resquícios perduram até hoje, em parceria com a professora de hip-hop da Instituição. Os exercícios visavam sobretudo conectar esses jovens com sua ancestralidade perdida, pois pensamos o hip-hop como cultura juvenil legítima e procuramos valorizá-lo como percurso educacional, inclusive a jornada heroica que se narra em suas letras, análoga à dos jovens em seu cotidiano e à minha própria como pesquisador. No processo de construção das oficinas, consubstanciou-se a presença da religiosidade africana, de sua arte e de seu pensamento, traduzidos e atualizados pela cultura hip-hop. O resultado foi um percurso formativo que se valeu de uma cultura juvenil praticada principalmente por jovens pobres das periferias do Brasil e, compartilhando essa experiência, procurou-se resgatar a autoestima desses jovens e favorecer a integração social e geracional de membros das comunidades. / This master dissertation is a reflection of an educational research in the field that faced hip hop as a youth culture, which goal was to build educational procedures from hip hop. The text discusses the experience that took place at the Non-Governmental Organization Casa do Zezinho, in the far south of São Paulo City. The institution offered hip-hop workshops for young people of both sexes, between 13 and 17 years old, who were officially enrolled at the schools of the public system, and my intervention took place in this context, in partnership with the teacher of hip-hop. I shall narrate the itinerary of the research, considering institutional, subjective and articulatory aspects of it, along its making. My intervention consisted of exercises and cultural activities such as the production of texts, graffiti and choreography tinted by motivation and the awakening of a critical conscience, artistic awareness and especially the feeling of belonging to African ancestry, torn from its roots through the historic slave process which colonial remnants linger to the present days. The exercises were aimed, above of all, to connect these young people to their lost ancestry, because we believed hip hop as a legitimate youth culture and we struggle to value it as an educational route, including the heroic journey that is described in its lyrics, analogous to the youth struggles in their everyday life, and my own as a researcher. It was embodied into the workshops the process of construction to reveal the presence of African religiosity, its art and its thinking, translated and updated by the hip hop culture. As a result, I developed a training path that drew upon a youth culture mainly practiced by poor young people from the outskirts of Brazil and when sharing this experience, we tried to rescue the self-esteem of these young people and promote social and generational integration of community members.

Cette thèse traite de la manière dont les Tandroy, population originaire de l’extrême Sud de Madagascar, produisent leurs identités collectives en situation de migration urbaine dans la ville de Toliara. Les Tandroy, qui vivent depuis près d’un siècle en situation de circulation à travers l’île, sont le plus souvent assignés à un statut de migrants précaires, pour lesquels la ville demeure un espace étranger. Je montre, à travers une ethnographie de situations rituelles, comment cet état de la migration peut être considéré comme un espace de transition, dans lequel se joue le passage d’un état de mobilité à un état d’ancrage. Je montre également comment ce passage implique la remise en cause d’une identité collective construite avec la colonisation, et cristallisée au début des années 1970, époque où sévit une révolte paysanne menée par Monja Jaona, leader politique tandroy d’envergure nationale. Mes enquêtes se situent dans deux domaines, celui de la politique, et celui de la possession. Dans les deux cas, l’ancrage en ville s’exprime de manière paradoxale à partir du maniement de symboles ancestraux, pourtant fragilisés par le phénomène migratoire et jugés inadaptés à l’espace urbain : le poteau sacrificiel hazomanga, et l’esprit de possession kokolampo. Je m’intéresse à la manière dont ces éléments participent à l’élaboration de constructions symboliques confrontant des catégories identitaires articulées à l’expression d’une mémoire collective, et porte une attention particulière à la musique produite dans les situations ethnographiées, laquelle peut amener à une forme alternative de relation à l’identité collective, favorisant l’expérience de l’ancrage. / This thesis deals with the way the Tandroy people native of the South of Madagascar, produce their collective identities in situation of urban migration in the city of Toliara. The Tandroy have lived for almost a century in situation of migration through the island. They are assigned most of the time to a status of precarious migrants, for whom cities remain a foreign space. I show, through an ethnography of ritual situations, how this state of the migration can be considered as a space of transition, in which a state of mobility to a state of sedentarization takes place. I also show how this passage implies the question of the building of a collective identity with the colonization, and enhanced at the beginning of the 1970s, when arises a peasant revolt led by the tandroy political leader Monja Jaona. My inquiries focus on two domains : politics and spirit possession. In both cases, urban sedentarization is expressed in a paradoxical way from the manipulation of ancestral symbols, nevertheless weakened by migrations and considered unsuitable for the urban space : hazomanga-stake, and spirit possession kokolampo. I am interested in the way these elements participate in the elaboration of symbolic constructions confronting categories articulated in the expression of a collective memory and I thoroughly observe the music produced, which can bring to an alternative relationship to the collective identity, favoring the experiment of the sedentarization.

A dissertação procura compreender os acontecimentos musicais derivados do contato da denominada Música Experimental com realidades musicais Nativo Ancestrais Indígenas do continente sul-americano. Para isso, realiza uma contextualização histórica da evolução do experimentalismo musical desde 1950, seguindo um percurso linear até a atualidade, onde se destacam trabalhos e pesquisas de compositores ativos, que têm abordado especificamente as relações entre música, cosmovisão indígena e o xamanismo dentro do processo de experimentação sonoro/musical. Nesse contexto, se evidencia a criação de relações transculturais, produzidas entre duas realidades heterogêneas que, na contemporaneidade, se complementam. Para finalizar a presente pesquisa apresenta o trabalho prático, decorrente da criação de partituras gráficas e instruções verbais, desenvolvidas com o grupo de pesquisa em improvisação e experimentação musical Orquestra Errante (ECA-USP), onde foram utilizados elementos conceituais e sonoro/musicais nativo-indígenas e eco-escuta em práticas regulares de improvisação livre, evidenciando as dificuldades e possíveis estratégias para a conjunção entre o nativo-natural e o experimental. / The thesis seeks to understand musical events derivate from the contact of the so called Experimental Music with musical realities of Indigenous Native-Ancestry of the South American continent. To do so, it performs a historical context of the evolution of musical experimentation since 1950, following a linear path to the present, which features work and research of active composers who have specifically addressed the relationship between music, indigenous worldview and shamanism within the process of sound/musical experimentation. In this context, it highlights the creation of cross-cultural relations, produced between two heterogeneous realities that, in contemporary times, complement each other. Finally this research presents the practical work, arising from the creation of graphic scores and verbal instructions, developed with the research group in improvisation and musical experimentation Orchestra Errante (ECA-USP), where are used conceptual and sound/musical elements forma indigenous native-ancestry of South America and eco-listening in regular practices of free improvisation, highlighting the difficulties and possible strategies for the conjunction between two antagonistic elements, native-experimental.

O velado e o revelado: imagens da Festa da Congada é resultado da investigação de processos de percepção atribuídos ao olhar que se reportam ao mundo visível, mas também ao mundo invisível, cuja apreensão e compreensão abarcam códigos, modulação e educação dos sentidos de ordem diversa e específica. A partir da pesquisa de campo com imagens, a Festa de Congada de São Sebastião do Paraíso, MG, foi pensada por meio da sincrônica descrição etnográfica cotejada aos recortes conceituais diacrônicos que ofereceram elementos importantes à compreensão desta festa em sua especificidade de imbricar heranças africanas de religiosidade às práticas católicas. Esse foi o caminho para pensar a Congada e sua dinâmica conceitual nativa sobre imagens, formas, e tudo aquilo que é visível e invisível na festa. / Guarded and revealed: images of the Feast of Congada is a result of the research on processes of perception attributed to the look that report to the visible world, but also to the invisible world, which apprehension and understanding includes codes, modulation and education of senses diverse and specific. Based on fieldwork with images, the Feast of Congada of São Sebastião do Paraíso, MG has been thought through synchronic ethnographic description compared with diachronic conceptual elements that offered important insights in order to understand this festivity in its specificity of implicating African religious heritage to Catholic practices. This was the way to render the Congada and its conceptual dynamics of native images, shapes, and all that is visible and invisible at the party.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T14:53:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Flavio Jose dos Passos.pdf: 7202656 bytes, checksum: cbfc363312b53d5bccf7090a67e54d13 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-06-19 / Upon searching to interpret Dola s Alley as a "web of meanings", entangled in the house and in the shed and in the alley itself, where the identitary subjects, with whom this anthropological work dialogues, are defined, our primary aim is to understand the family, culture and group dynamics of this group of blood and of saint. This search means a step by step examination into the process of the formation of the family group from Vó Dola s ancestral memory, from the social and genealogical memory that is present in the formation, occupation and assertion of Bairro das Pedrinhas and the relationship between this memory/collective identity and the shed of candomblé angola. In this way, from the narratives by the alley s women, as well as the testimonies by their sons and daughters, grandchildren, stepchildren and neighbors, one scrutinizes the feeling of ethnic-racial belonging within Vó Zita, Mãe Fátima, Madrinha Elza and Vó Dola s community-family, as "Great Mothers" of an extended family and a community of Indigenous-African religious tradition. Thus, upon understanding the Bairro da Rua das Pedrinhas, but mainly Dola s Alley in the present work, as the black territory par excellence, we contribute to a greater visibility of the African-Indigenous history and culture in the urban and territorial dynamics in Vitória da Conquista and its region / Ao buscar interpretar o Beco de Dola enquanto uma teia de significados , emaranhada na casa e no barracão e no próprio Beco, e na qual se afirmam os sujeitos identitários com os quais o presente trabalho antropológico dialoga, nosso principal objetivo é compreender a dinâmica familiar, grupal e cultural deste grupo de sangue e de santo. Tal busca significa, passo a passo, analisar o processo de formação do grupo familiar a partir da memória ancestral de Vó Dola, da memória social e genealógica presente na formação, ocupação e afirmação do Bairro das Pedrinhas e a relação desta memória/identidade coletiva e o barracão de candomblé angola. Neste caminho, perscrutar, a partir das narrativas das mulheres do Beco, bem como dos testemunhos de seus filhos e filhas, netos, agregados e vizinhos, o sentimento de pertencimento étnico-racial presente na família-comunidade de Vó Zita, Mãe Fátima, Madrinha Elza e Vó Dola, enquanto Grandes Mães de uma família extensa e de uma comunidade de tradição religiosa de matrizes indígenas-africanas. Assim, ao compreendermos o Bairro da Rua das Pedrinhas, mas principalmente, dentro do presente trabalho, o Beco de Dola como sendo o território negro por excelência, contribuímos para uma maior visibilidade da história e cultura de matrizes africanas e indígenas na dinâmica urbana e territorial de Vitória da Conquista e região