Notícias
Botanical Garden Museum launches program dedicated to Afro-Brazilian memory and ethnic-racial debate
Meetings with experts will be held monthly to address topics such as slavery, quilombo ecology, and cultural heritage.
On August 4, the Botanical Garden Museum will launch a new program focused on promoting Afro-Brazilian cultures and deepening debates on memory, history, and the environment. The Negritude in Focus Forum will be held monthly in the Museum's multipurpose room, with free meetings open to the public.
The initiative is part of the first phase of the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden's Affirmative Action Plan, announced at the inauguration of the Memorial das Mãos Negras (Black Hands Memorial) in November 2024. The Forum was conceived by a working group responsible for implementing the plan, with the aim of broadening ethnic-racial dialogue within the institution and contributing to the construction of a more just, diverse, and inclusive society.
Collectively curated and mediated by employees and researchers from the Botanical Garden itself, the program brings together leading figures in fields such as history, anthropology, museology, and environmental conservation. The inaugural lecture will be given by historian Flávio Gomes (UFRJ) on August 4, with the theme “Slavery and Memory at the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden,” and will feature an opening speech by Sérgio Besserman Vianna, president of JBRJ, and mediation by Deborah Tavares, coordinator of Social and Environmental Responsibility at the institution and one of the organizers of the initiative.
Throughout the semester, the meetings will address topics such as Afro-diasporic objects and images in museums and gardens, quilombo ecology, the pretos novos (new blacks), and the relationship between quilombos and conservation units.
The Negritude em Foco Forum also reinforces the institutional commitment to the principles of sustainable development, in line with the guidelines of the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change and the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, especially those related to equity, quality education, and the reduction of inequalities.
About the guest
Flávio Gomes is a professor of Brazilian History at UFRJ and a researcher at CNPq, focusing on political practices, territorialities, and black experiences in slave-owning Brazil. He is the author of reference works on quilombos and black resistance, such as Histórias de Quilombola (Companhia das Letras, 2006), Mocambos e Quilombos (Claro Enigma, 2015), and The Story of Rufino (Oxford University Press, 2020).
Service - Negritude in Focus Forum
1st edition, August 4, 2025
Time: 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Location: Multipurpose Room of the Botanical Garden Museum - 1st floor
Seats: 50, on a first-come, first-served basis
Free admission | All ages welcome
Live broadcast on the JBRJ YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/JardimBotanicodoRiodeJaneiro
Botanical Garden Museum
Visiting hours: Thursday to Tuesday (closed on Wednesdays) / 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Access via Rua Jardim Botânico, 1008 – Jardim Botânico
Free admission