Whiteness is a
place of material
and symbolic privilege

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PRO
JECTS

Every project in the Whiteness Observatory is structured along three axes: knowledge production, political articulation, and communication.

Who are the anti-quotas?

The Whiteness Observatory has conducted an extensive survey and profiling of Brazilian social and institutional actors that are opposed to racial quotas. We present a theoretical mirror to these anti-quota groups that are unable to recognize the dominance relationship that founded this country. This dominance relationship is still pervasive and keeps us trapped in the past. Anti-quota groups are anti-Black. They abhor the idea of deracializing spaces of power, and thus should be under permanent scrutiny.

Whiteness and economy

Economic and tax policies are crucial for either the deepening or the reduction of racial inequalities. Mobilization, lobby, and policymaking are, however, generally led by white people representing major economic interests. The Observatory of Whiteness intends to analyze race and gender inequalities starting from the discussion around taxation, macroeconomics, and politics.

Economic and tax policies are crucial for either the deepening or the reduction of racial inequalities. Mobilization, lobby, and policymaking are, however, generally led by white people representing major economic interests. The Whiteness Observatory intends to analyze race and gender inequalities starting from the discussion around taxation, macroeconomics, and politics.

Whiteness and economy

Whiteness and the justice system

The Whiteness Observatory aims to understand how dominance relations are structured within the justice system and how its institutions are adding to the inequalities between Black and white people regarding access to justice. Preferred subjects of study shall be unequal application of rules and access to judicial positions.

Literature review

We have mapped and systematized studies, papers and publications on whiteness in Brazil. The survey cross-referenced data on time, author profiles, and areas of concentration among other data that revealed the profile of Brazilian production on the subject.

We have mapped and systematized studies, papers and publications on whiteness in Brazil. The survey cross-referenced data on time, author profiles, and areas of concentration among other data that revealed the profile of Brazilian production on the subject.

Literature review

Guerreiro Ramos Library

A virtual library containing articles, dissertations, theses, and other materials on whiteness produced in Brazil. The collection honors sociologist Alberto Guerreiro Ramos, one of the early researchers on the theme in Brazil, and contains more than 250 publications, the result of a systematic literature review carried out by The Whiteness Observatory.

Who
we are

We are a civil society initiative founded in 2022 dedicated to creating awareness and strategic incidence focused on whiteness – both its material and symbolic power structures, the foundation upon which racial inequalities rest.

The Whiteness Observatory creates and shares knowledge on a regular and systematic basis to raise awareness about the debate on whiteness and its consequences for racial inequalities.

Whiteness is defined as a space of symbolic and material privilege, historically built as the highest level of racial hierarchy, with the power to classify others, to attribute racial identity and stigmatizing subjectivity to whom they deem non-white, and this is the cornerstone of racism.

Consisting of an all-Black, multidisciplinary team, we are the first Brazilian civil society organization centered on the analysis of white racial identity and its power structures.

Our Team

PUBLI
CATIONS

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Media

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FUN
DERS