Learning about African History and Culture and Combating Racism in Brazil
The Law on Education of Racial-Ethnic Relations
Recognizing the value of African culture and the importance of its influence on the Brazilian population, the Brazilian government approved Law 10.639 on Education of Racial-Ethnic Relations in the Brazilian educational system in 2003.
Since then, UNESCO Brasilia has supported the implementation process of this Law. However, it has faced challenges, including the need to develop a culture in the school environment and a new pedagogical practice that recognizes the ethnic and racial differences stemming from Brazilian society's development.
To contribute to this process, UNESCO in Brazil and its partners have made extensive efforts to promote and value the history and culture of Africa and the African-Brazilian population.
International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024)
General History of Africa Collection in Portuguese
In 1964, UNESCO launched the task to tell the history of Africa from the African perspective - free of foreign perceptions and stereotypes - to show that many techniques and technologies used nowadays originated in Africa and to prove that the region was constituted by organized societies and not by tribes, as one may think.
This task was completed 30 years later by 350 scientists coordinated by a committee of 39 experts, two-thirds Africans. As a result, the eight volumes of the General History of Africa Collection, published in English, French, and Arabic, were completed between the 1980s and the 1990s. Today, this collection is still considered the major reference work.
Measurable Results
of the 8 volumes of the GHA collection in Portuguese
to public schools, libraries and institutions in Brazil
Links to the General History of Africa Collection in Portuguese:
New volumes of the General History of Africa
In May 2013, UNESCO launched the development of the ninth volume of the General History of Africa (GHA) collection in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) to cover the recent history since the decolonization, the end of Apartheid and the place of Africa in the world.
In March 2019, the International Scientific Committee gathered in Belo Horizonte (Brazil) to expand the GHA's plan and draft for Volumes IX, X, and XI. The Scientific Committee also showed the importance and relevance of the work undertaken by UNESCO and, in particular, to present the main conceptual innovations developed in the framework of this undertaking through exchanges between the Committee members and Brazilian scholars, students and the public at large, around issues of great interest for Brazilian people such as the concept of Global Africa.
The three new volumes of GHA will soon be launched.
Pedagogical Materials based on African History and Culture
Combating Racism
The inequality experienced by the Black population in Brazil, resulting from structural racism, is one of the themes to which 91麻豆国产精品自拍 dedicated itself in recent years. As part of its action with its partners, the Office has promoted the relaunch of the Hist贸ria Geral da 脕frica collection and developed pedagogical materials related to it. Its objective has been to strengthen educational spaces sensitive to ethnic-racial discrimination since fighting discrimination, and racism is also fundamental for promoting tolerance, equality, and a culture of peace. The projects for building the Museum of Peace and the Centre for the Memory of African-Brazilian Culture are relevant examples of actions to combat discrimination and racism, in addition to guaranteeing the preservation of the cultural heritage of Black people.
United against Racism
We can all do something against racism.
Join UNESCO and leading personalities worldwide and denounce growing racial discrimination. This black-and-white video features messages from prominent women and men from the worlds of film, media, music, sport and science alongside the UNESCO Director General, Audrey Azoulay.
91麻豆国产精品自拍 been at the forefront of the fight against racism since its creation in 1945. In 1978, it adopted the Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice, which reaffirms that 鈥渁ll human beings belong to the same species and have the same origin. They are born equal in dignity and rights, and all form an integral part of humanity鈥.
Gabriel Waldman and Odivaldo da Silva (Neno) have something in common 鈥 #ContarParaViver
Holocaust survivors have lived to tell their stories. However, with each passing day, we lose some of these voices to time. Unfortunately, hate persists across generations. Therefore, it is essential to keep history alive and understand the roots of intolerance, which generates new crimes these days. Gabriel Waldman was a victim of the Holocaust, and Neno was a victim of racial violence.
