Priscilla Ferreira
Funding period: 1 April 2022 – 31 October 2023
Type of funding:
Other Grants
This grant was awarded as a follow-up to Global Black Geographies: Racial Capitalism and Black Urban Experiences.
Our collective proposal for the USF Knowledge Mobilisation Award seeks to support three (3) on-the-ground initiatives of Black geographies in resistance in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Each initiative tackles one of the political issues highlighted in the thematic panels of the International Seminar Series Global titled Black Geographies: Racial Capitalism and Black Urban Experiences, to take place in Rio de Janeiro (June 2022) and New Brunswick/New York (November 2022) with support from the USF International Seminar Series Award. The issues that both the international seminars and Knowledge Mobilization initiatives focus on are:
- prison abolition and defunding the police
- the right to memory and racial justice
- Black solidarity economies
The Knowledge Mobilisation Award offers support to three initiatives:
- An interactive theater play based on the book of the community journalist from Favela Maré in Rio de Janeiro, Gizele Martins. Her book is titled Militarization of Favelas and Censorship: Struggles for Freedom of Expression in Favela Maré. Coletivo of Favela Maré created and presented online performative readings of Martin’s book during the pandemic. With the support of the Knowledge Mobilization Award, Coletivo will further develop the theatrical project around the impact of militarization in the favela based on Martin’s book and do a series of presentations of the play in public schools in Maré.
- A series of community-based workshops and a campaign around prison abolition, defunding the police, and advancing a praxis of non-punitive and accountable communities. The abolitionist grassroots organization and independent research institute, Instituto Pelo Direito à Memória e Justiça Racial that works in the majority-Black territory known as Baixada Fluminense will lead this initiative.
- Production and showcase of a short documentary featuring the role of Black women in mutual aid schemes and Black solidarity economies in Rio de Janeiro. Afro-Brazilian activist and Geography and Latinx and Caribbean Studies Professor at Rutgers University, Dr. Priscilla Ferreira, will lead this initiative alongside Leila Souza, a Black feminist, solidarity economy organizer, and founder of the Cultural Center and Atelier Mulheres de Pedra, in Pedra de Guaratiba in the west side periphery of Rio de Janeiro.