Introduction
In 2008, Walter Mignolo highlighted the personalistic character of Latin American states. Instead of operating according to the Weberian ideals of efficiency that a modern public bureaucracy that is attentive to legal procedures is supposed to follow, Latin American states are shaped by the personal relations of those in control, which historically have been racist white elites. Those states bear, therefore, the mark of coloniality.
The election of the progressive Workers Party (PT in Portuguese) President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for a third term, in 2022, however, created an opportunity for an anti-racism agenda, to be taken into consideration once again within the Planalto Palace and the Brazilian Ministry Esplanade. With Lula’s coming into power, progressive politicians started to occupy public office and control some of the more strategic agendas. Amongst those appointed was the Executive Secretary (Vice-Minister) Paulo Henrique Rodrigues Pereira, of the Council of Sustainable Social and Economic Development, the Conselhão, an institution organically connected to the Brazilian Presidency of the Republic. His tenure in public office was the perfect opportunity to use the personalistic veins of the Brazilian State in reverse, to try to mitigate racism from within. To plant ideas of racial justice within the government bureaucracy, rather than the known historical violence against Afrodescendant and Indigenous peoples.
Before taking this position as the head of Conselhão, Pereira had been a visiting scholar at the Afro-Latin American Research Institute at the Hutchins Center at Harvard University (ALARI). After finishing his PhD studies, he became an instructor in the Certificate on Afro-Latin American Studies, as part of the team then coordinated by professor Guilherme Dantas Nogueira, a Brazilian researcher with his own connections to the Brazilian PT. So, Nogueira proposed to Pereira the creation of a partnership between ALARI and Conselhão, as a means to offer the virtual Certificate course to Brazilian state workers.
In this article, we dive into the unfolding of that proposal and of the first two special cohorts of the Certificate on Afro-Latin American Studies with Brazilian state workers. The goal is to narrate an experience that may be useful for other state bureaucracies in Latin America. We narrate this experience with a plural first person, as we all participated in it.
This is not a theoretical paper, nor do we wish to convey abstract concepts. We believe that the story itself is of interest to the ongoing construction of Afro-Latin American Studies as a field, to which all the authors of this paper adhere. Moreover, we believe that by sharing an experience we consider successful—one that integrates academic knowledge with practical applications—we are contributing to broader anti-racist efforts. We hope this experience may serve as a model for other antiracist projects.
The Certificate on Afro-Latin American Studies
The Certificate on Afro-Latin American Studies is a professional development virtual course dedicated to studying the experiences, histories, contributions, and challenges of the Afrodescendant population in Latin America (Afro-Latin Americans), from colonial times to the present. It seeks to develop among its participants a solid understanding of the impacts of slavery on the region's development, and to create an anti-racist culture. It was developed in 2019 by ALARI and several international partners. These included the Center for Afrodiasporic Studies, ICESI University, Colombia; the Afro-Latin American Studies Group (GEALA), University of Buenos Aires, Argentina; the Institute of History, CSIC, Madrid; the National Research Program on Afrodescendants and Cultural Diversity, National Institute of Anthropology and History, Mexico. It was conceived in cooperation with the Inter-American Network of High Authorities on Afrodescendant Policies (RIAFRO), coordinated by the Organization of American States (OAS).
The Certificate’s first international cohort launched in 2019, and enrollment was capped at 150 participants. It has since been offered annually, including a growing number of specialized seminars taught by scholars, activists, and other knowledge producers, primarily from Latin America. This evolving set of courses, always proposed after chartering and learning from participants’ demands, seeks to answer the plural needs of an academic offer centered on racial literacy, and of a public that includes participants from many different backgrounds and life experiences. To date, 930 people have enrolled in the Certificate.
The course has three stages. The first two are thematic virtual classes. The third is a final assignment, which is evaluated by the course’s tutor professors, who also provide feedback. All students take an introductory course of Afro-Latin American studies that looks at processes of racial formation and racial inequality in the region from a variety of disciplines. A distinguished transnational group of scholars and practitioners, collaborators of the ALARI, is responsible for the eleven classes, which are completed in about six weeks. Most of these classes connect to chapters from the book Afro-Latin American Studies: An Introduction, edited by historians Alejandro de la Fuente—ALARI’s Director—and George Reid Andrews (2018), available in open sources in Spanish and Portuguese.
Classes are rooted in studies of Afro‑Latin American history and the region’s social, political, and juridical formation. Alongside the volume edited by de la Fuente and Andrews (2018)—the field’s most comprehensive collection—weekly discussions draw on additional references selected by the course coordinator. The choice of authors varies, and this curatorial role turns the initiative into a dynamic research project that incorporates new developments in the field and insights gained from previous cohorts.
It is worth remembering that human trafficking and the enslavement of Africans were not exclusive to Brazil. This country was the largest recipient of the approximate 12 million enslaved Africans in the Western Hemisphere (SlaveVoyages Consortium, n.d.), but Africans and their descendants were key to the economic, social, and cultural development of almost every country in the region (Cunha, 2012). The trade in enslaved Africans and its impact is debated in the early stages of the Certificate. We consider it to be of special relevance to Brazilian public workers, many of whom never dived into African and Afrodescendant history in Brazil in their formal studies, let alone studied this topic in other countries.
The second stage lasts eight weeks and is composed of specialized seminars. Those are elective courses of the Certificate, prepared by a broad range of professors from numerous institutions. The selection of the courses is made by the academic coordinator of the Certificate, and it tends to vary each year. These specialized seminars are designed to provide students with the opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of the dynamics of racial stratification and inequality in different countries across Latin America and the Caribbean. For example, past editions of the Certificate program have included seminars on topics such as Black women's health in Cuba, Afrodescendant religious practices in Brazil, and Afro-Uruguayan struggles for recognition, among others. Typically, the seminars are delivered over four weeks, and participants choose two courses from that year’s offerings (typically four different specialized seminars). Sometimes, however, longer (eight-week) specialized courses are offered, and students can take them instead of the four-week seminars.
In its initial conception, the final assignment was a typical written academic or narrative article. However, in each cohort of the Certificate, participants have introduced new and interesting ideas for those assignments, which now include artworks, photo essays, documentaries, and community consultations in which knowledge production is clearly collective. Regardless of its form, the final assignment is an opportunity for participants to showcase not only what they learned, but also possible practical applications of those lessons, contributing to advancing the Afro-Latin American studies field.
As part of its agenda, the Certificate is committed to anti-racist education, to promoting restorative justice, and to transforming academia into a space where knowledge production is undertaken by a variety of actors, many of whom are not scholars. It creates networks of support among those committed to social and racial justice across Latin America. This commitment is what fuels the course and all its activities.
The Brazilian Effort
Built on the Certificate’s platform, the first special cohort targeting Brazilian public workers was conceived as a specialized course tailored for the specific needs of its participants. The need for such a course was obvious to us. It was also obvious that this had to be a collective effort, one in which the Brazilian Ministry of Racial Equality (MIR) would have to play a leading role in collaboration with ALARI and the Conselhão.
Adhering to the course’s framework, its first stage presented the same introductory course offered to the international cohorts. The second stage featured the eight-week specialized seminar “Inequalities, Antiracism, and the Brazilian State,” tailored to the specificities of Brazilian public workers. To organize this seminar, we met with Secretary Marcia Lima, of MIR who was responsible at the time for the Affirmative Action agenda at the Ministry. Lima is a well-known University of São Paulo sociologist of race and racism in education, with long-term ties to ALARI. Alongside her, and with the participation of thirteen guest instructors, we designed a specialized course that helped to identify specific forms of Brazilian racism and invited state workers to propose concrete steps to mitigate it.[1] This was not, therefore, a history or social sciences course, even though it was informed by contributions from those disciplines. Classes were professionally recorded, but we also hosted weekly debate forums with the participation of tutor professors Etyelle Pinheiro de Araujo and Edimilson Rodrigues de Souza, and synchronous classes with ALARI scholars.
We also created new modalities for the final assignment. The idea was that participants prepared documents with proposals for new or revised public policies, governmental programs, communication pieces, etc., that could be rapidly implemented by state institutions. Although we do not have the power to implement those proposals, working with participants in the process of developing them was perhaps the most important result of the program. Among participants in the first cohort, for example, about 30 people proposed new public policies; 17 suggested ideas for government programs; five created publicity campaigns; and 17 prepared diagnoses of already existing public policies that could be improved with new approaches. We also received many non-specific proposals that are, nevertheless, of potential interest to the state. All together (understanding that most participants prepared their proposals in groups), the final number of papers included around 40 proposals for anti-racist initiatives, which could be promptly implemented by the Brazilian State. Whether they are implemented or not (some were), these final assignments often carry transformative potential.
The Certificate coordinator, supported by tutor professors, maintained a role of addressing participants’ questions, specific needs, and any conflicts or challenges arising during implementation. This role, already present in the international version of the Certificate, is carried out through debate forums or direct communication, depending on the issue. It becomes even more sensitive in the Brazilian cohorts, given their specific public. For instance, in April 2024, at the start of the first special cohort, many participants were engaged in humanitarian responses to severe flooding in southern Brazil, requiring an ad hoc strategy to ensure they could continue the training while fulfilling their professional duties.
The Brazilian initiative was made possible by the financial support of the oldest Brazilian bank, Banco do Brasil (BB), founded in 1808 by Portuguese King Dom João VI. This sponsorship is particularly relevant, as the BB financed the slave trade and profited from it during the 19th century. In 2023, in fact, the Brazilian Public Ministry (MP)[2] sued the bank to hold it accountable for its participation in the trade, demanding support for antiracist efforts. In response, the BB signed a protocol with MIR, with a broad list of actions to be taken against racism, one of which was the training of its employees on these issues. Exactly what the ALARI Certificate offers.
Working with both the Minister of Racial Equality, Anielle Franco, and the President of BB, Tarciana Medeiros,[3] Secretary Pereira proposed that BB financed the first cohort of the Certificate. The idea was well received, and BB became a partner in the initiative. The first special cohort would be composed of 150 participants—that became 157. Half of those would be BB employees, and the other half participants from all Ministries in the Brazilian federal government. To support this initiative, BB, Conselhão, and MIR created the Racial Equality Pact (MIR, 2024), an instrument composed of different activities, including the Certificate.
We note, as another lesson learned, that having the Racial Equality Pact and these important partners is a necessary means to undertake an effort such as this initiative. Given that the state is rooted in racism, it is necessary to have strong and committed partners to carry out anti-racist programs, even in progressive governments. They will work the bureaucracy from within, creating the path to implementation.
For the second cohort, considering the success of the first and its good reception among BB employees, the bank and Secretary Pereira’s team proposed to broaden the invitation to more Brazilian public companies. Six other institutions decided to be a part of the course: two other public banks, Caixa Econômica Federal and Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES); Correios, the Brazilian Post; the public technology companies Dataprev and Serpro; and the oil giant Petrobras—Brazil’s largest company. It is important to highlight that in order to participate in the Certificate, these institutions became part of the Racial Equality Pact. The second cohort—ongoing as of the writing of this essay—comprises 243 participants from the seven public companies and the Brazilian federal government.
Towards an Antiracist State
Those who have completed the Certificate are public workers, some positioned in the higher management of the state, who have developed new competencies and sensibilities concerning racial exclusion and how white supremacy works. They can use these competencies, sensibilities, and knowledge to build a more inclusive state and society. They can also access the network formed with other participants through the program and work collectively toward an anti-racist state.
Some of the proposals articulated by participants were implemented in the months after the end of the first cohort. Among the good proposals that came out of this initiative was the new government program Viva Quilombo. Participants from BB and several ministries developed this idea. It was based on what they learned about the history of exclusions of Afrodescendant Brazilian people, but also on their knowledge about how state institutions can modify the present. Essentially, the program creates specialized credit lines to support and finance business and social initiatives in northern, northeastern, and west-central quilombola communities. Those are especially poor, marginalized Afrodescendant communities that are historically linked to enslaved people who managed to flee from captivity. Through this program, they get preferential access to new resources. A big win, therefore, to the impacted people and to racial and social justice, achieved through the Certificate.
Another achievement worth mentioning was the proposal to integrate the Federal Policy of Affirmative Actions with the Federal Policy for Combating Harassment and Discrimination in the Federal Public Administration. The idea emerged from a first‑cohort participant who is a senior federal official and had helped formulate and monitor both policies. Drawing on that experience and the knowledge she acquired through the Certificate about the realities that Afrodescendant public workers face within the state, she outlined ways to connect the policies, strengthening both the entry of Afro‑descendant professionals into public careers and the mechanisms to address racism and other forms of discrimination once they are admitted. This integration supports a more diverse public administration and better conditions for these workers to thrive.
For Brazil to have an anti-racist public bureaucracy, it needs to have anti-racist public servants. The state exists through the lives of its public workers and the processes and programs that they implement. In synthesis, the biggest value of the special cohorts of the Certificate lies in the great number of state workers who are producing knowledge that can be deployed to maintain or initiate anti-racist practices within their institutional roles, and collaboratively, through the networks created—110 people graduated in the first cohort, and the ongoing second cohort expects over 200. However, we think our greatest accomplishment is that we have created an opportunity that has been seized by a group of state workers that almost certainly does not represent a cross-section of the bureaucracy. People of African descent (54%) and women (74%) predominated among participants in the first cohort, with the second showing similar numbers (50% and 64%, respectively). Forty-two percent of the graduates of the first cohort self-identify as Black women. These are, in other words, collaborators and knowledge producers who, from state institutions, share our vision of a racially just, egalitarian, and inclusive Brazil and Latin America.
Acknowledgements: We acknowledge the guidance received from Professor Alejandro de la Fuente, Director of the Afro-Latin American Research Institute at the Hutchins Center at Harvard University.