Secretaria de Relações Internacionais | Office of International Relations

On 20 November, Black Awareness Day was held in Brazil. The date is attributed to Zumbi dos Palmares’ death, murdered by “bandeirantes” in 1652. Zumbi was the leader of the “Quilombo dos Palmares” and became a symbol of the black movement resistance.

Brazil still carries the traces of colonialism and over 300 years of slavery. The abolition of slavery, in 1888, did not prevent the oppression and racial inequality from being ingrained in the Brazilian society. The black population is the target for structural racism.

The Black Awareness Day, therefore, is a date for reflection and resistance. We must remember that freedom was not merely granted by the Golden Law, but conquered by the struggle of the black movement. As a university community, we must defend the right to racial quotas and fight any form of racism in the academic environment. 

In the internationalization field, it is necessary to recognize that many of the inequalities existing today are a reflection of the perpetuation of racism and colonialism that have historically been present in university international  relations. It is necessary to trace the evidence of coloniality behind contemporary practices and policies in order to deconstruct dominant assumptions and to enable internationalization to be a means of building a more just and equal world.

UFSC takes an antiracist stance and, as part of its institutional actions to combat the structural racism that exists in Brazilian society, it has produced a video on the subject. SINTER has provided English subtitles for this video, so we would like to share it with you so you can learn a little about the reality and struggle of black people in Brazil.

Access novembronegro.ufsc.br and check out the university’s program for this month.

Watch the video here.

This post is available in Brazilian Portuguese only. Please access the website in Portuguese to read it.

Visit from Middlebury College.

On 8 November, SINTER, together with the Labor Sociology Laboratory (LASTRO) at UFSC, welcomed Carlos Velez, Dean of International Programs at Middlebury College, and Sílvia Lorenso, Director of the Middlebury School in Brazil.

On 9 November, SINTER held an online meeting to discuss virtual exchange possibilities between UFSC and Florida State College at Jacksonville. Professor Kátia Madruga, Virtual Exchange Coordinator at UFSC, Professor Carolina Parrini, Pedagogical Coordinator at NILT/SINTER, Fernanda Leal, Director of International Relations at SINTER/UFSC, and representatives of Florida State College at Jacksonville attended the meeting.

Meeting with Florida State College at Jacksonville representatives.

This post is available in Brazilian Portuguese only. Please access the website in Portuguese to read it.

This post is available in Brazilian Portuguese only. Please access the website in Portuguese to read it.

The United Nations Refugee Agency (ACNUR), the Sérgio Vieira de Mello Chair (CSVM), and the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) invite journalism students and professionals to the Humanitarian Journalism Course, which will take place on the 22 and 23 November, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

The course is free and will be held in person and remotely. Each participant will receive a certificate of completion totaling 8 hours at the end of the course.

The number of refugees and asylum seekers has never been higher. In May this year, global displacement reached a new record, surpassing 100 million people for the first time in history. In Brazil, until August 2022, there were 61,731 people recognized as refugees, of which 50,002 were from Venezuela.

To learn more about this reality, register to attend the course here.

Access here the course schedule.

This post is available in Brazilian Portuguese only. Please access the website in Portuguese to read it.