Social Memory, Conviviality and Contemporary Anti-Racism

In his lecture, Mário Augusto Medeiros (Universidade Estadual de Campinas and Researcher Cebrap, Brazil) analyzes the actions of protest movements in the cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo that seek to promote, contest, and defend social memory policies related to territories historically understood as Black and Indigenous: Cais do Valongo and Cemitério dos Pretos Novos (Rio de Janeiro); Liberdade/Aflitos and the Saracura region (São Paulo). These sites have been framed as places of memory and as spaces of demand for the rights of Black and/or Indigenous populations. They are also the focus of cultural heritage policies and/or sites of dispute involving the real estate market, the state, and various public and private actors. The lecture will examine how these demands have evolved in recent years, their scope, and their limitations within the broader political agenda concerning urban rights struggles, anti-racist activism, and debates on collective memory and rights. The meanings and implications of the concept of conviviality also play a role in these disputes, serving as a lens through which to test its potential for analyzing movements of this nature.

Introduction: Peter Birle (Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut, Principal Investigator Mecila)

More information about the Lecture Series “Diversity/Medialities”