RioOnWatch – community reporting on Rio

2024 Retrospective of Top International Reporting on Rio’s Favelas

By Kincaid Cummings • December 26, 2024

From 2013 to 2023, RioOnWatch ran the Best and Worst International Reporting on Rio de Janeiro’s Favelas series. It began, quite symptomatically, with the Worst International Reporting on Rio’s Favelas: 2013, where our conclusion was […]

In Rio de Janeiro, of Two Favelas at Risk of Landslides in the Same Environmental Protection Area, Only One Receives Preventative Measures From the City

By Felipe Migliani • Translation by Yasmin Quaife • December 22, 2024

Clique aqui para Português This article is part of a series created in partnership with the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies at San Diego State University, to produce articles for the Digital Brazil Project on environmental justice in the favelas […]

Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes Halts Tribute to Amarildo de Souza, Blocking Street Name Change in Rocinha

By Igor Soares, Rodrigo Silva • Translation by Kay Alvito • December 20, 2024

Clique aqui para Português For the original article by Igor Soares and Rodrigo Silva published in Fala Roça, click here. RioOnWatch translated this article to update our English-speaking audience on a critical story we covered […]

Rio de Janeiro’s Second Largest Favela, Rio das Pedras, Claims Space at the Center of Favela History Through ‘Territories of Memory’ Event

By Wellington Melo • Translation by Hannah McKenzie • December 12, 2024

Clique aqui para Português On November 23, community news outlet Lume Agency held an in-depth event on memory at the CAIC Euclides da Cunha secondary school in Rio das Pedras, Rio de Janeiro’s second largest […]

Marielle Franco’s Assassins Convicted: ‘Justice is Slow, Blind, Stupid, Unfair, Wrong, and Crooked. But It Always Comes,’ Says Judge

By Alexandre Cerqueira • Translation by Sylvia Schiller • December 2, 2024

Clique aqui para Português On October 30 and 31, after over six years of waiting, the trial of the killers of councilwoman and human rights defender Marielle Franco and her driver Anderson Gomes finally took […]

Queen Diambi Kabatusuila of Congo Visits Rio de Janeiro’s Camorim Quilombo Offering Reconnection Across the Diaspora

By Rhuan Gonçalves • Translation by Kay Alvito • November 30, 2024

Clique aqui para Português During Brazilian Black Awareness Month in 2024, some of Rio de Janeiro’s most important spaces for Black culture were graced with a visit from Her Royal Majesty Queen Diambi Kabatusuila, known […]

Brazilian Government Formally Recognizes ‘Favelas and Urban Communities’ As the Official Term for Informal Settlements Nationwide

By Carmen Nery, IBGE press release, Vinícius Britto, IBGE press release • Translation by Hannah McKenzie • January 31, 2024

Clique aqui para Português For the original press release in Portuguese, published by Brazil’s census bureau, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), click here. The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) is […]

RIP ‘Subnormal Agglomerations,’ Part 3: Peripheral Epistemology in the Design of the Census and Presentation of a New Nomenclature

By Julio Santos Filho • Translation by Nathan Bergrin • November 10, 2023

Clique aqui para Português This is the final article in a series of three about how Brazil’s census bureau, IBGE, held an unprecedented week-long workshop to debate how to change the term “subnormal agglomeration” used […]

RIP ‘Subnormal Agglomerations,’ Part 2: Housing Rights and Favela Stigma in the Official Nomenclature

By Julio Santos Filho • Translation by Nathan Bergrin • November 9, 2023

Clique aqui para Português This is the second article in a series of three about how Brazil’s census bureau, IBGE, held an unprecedented week-long workshop to debate how to change the term “subnormal agglomeration” used […]

Get to Know Candidates from Favelas for Rio de Janeiro’s City Council

By Bárbara Dias • Translation by Kincaid Cummings • October 3, 2024

Clique aqui para Português The city of Rio de Janeiro has 5,009,373 registered voters, according to data from the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), out of an estimated 6,211,223 people, based on the 2022 national census. […]

Meet Rio de Janeiro’s 2024 Mayoral Candidates

By Janaina Tavares • Translation by Vasti Cruz • October 2, 2024

Clique aqui para Português In 2024, seven men and two women are running for mayor of Rio de Janeiro from nine of Brazil’s several dozen political parties. Only one male candidate self-identifies as Black, reflecting […]

Get to Know Popular Demands for Brazil’s National Urban Policy, Defined During Rio de Janeiro’s 5th Municipal Conference on Cities

By Guilherme Rodrigues Barbosa • Translation by Vasti Cruz • September 30, 2024

Clique aqui para Português On June 29 and 30, 2024, Porto Maravalley, in Rio de Janeiro’s downtown Port Region, hosted the 5th Municipal Conference on Cities, one of the stages of the 6th National Conference on […]

Queen Diambi Kabatusuila of Congo Visits Rio de Janeiro’s Camorim Quilombo Offering Reconnection Across the Diaspora

By Rhuan Gonçalves • Translation by Kay Alvito • November 30, 2024

Powerful Afro-Brazilian Cultural Event ‘Pedreira de Xangô in Serrinha’ Celebrates 80 Years [IMAGES]

By Rhuan Gonçalves • Translation by Staff • September 30, 2024

Clique aqui para Português This article is part of RioOnWatch‘s series on Memories of Favela Power, which documents and celebrates the history of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas through narratives and reports from residents’ collective memory, in […]

Black Brazilian Women Take Gold at the 2024 Olympic Games, Part 2: Community and Public Investments Take Favelas to the Olympics, With or Without Medals

By Julio Santos Filho • Translation by Kincaid Cummings • August 31, 2024

Clique aqui para Português This is Part 2 of a two-part article on the achievements of representation for Black Brazilian women at the 2024 Olympics. The Olympic achievements of Beatriz Souza, Rebeca Andrade, Ana Patrícia […]

2024 Retrospective of Top International Reporting on Rio’s Favelas

By Kincaid Cummings • December 26, 2024

Violence Is Literally Sickening: A Mother’s Testimony Corroborates Research Showing That Police Violence and the Denial of the Right to Grieve Cause Physical and Mental Illness in Brazil

By Ramon Vellasco • Translation by Fred Hanson • October 15, 2024

Clique aqui para Português “There are days when we just want to cry, to stay in bed, and not speak to anyone because we don’t have our children to hug anymore.” — Gilsara Mendes, mother […]

Get to Know Candidates from Favelas for Rio de Janeiro’s City Council

By Bárbara Dias • Translation by Kincaid Cummings • October 3, 2024

Understanding Energy Justice and Efficiency in Rio’s Favelas [VIDEO]

By Jaqueline Suarez • Translation by Pilar Boyero • December 13, 2021

Watch the video that summarizes the Energy Justice and Efficiency Series with English subtitles here: Clique aqui para Português This article and the video above offer a summary and conclusion to the series ‘Energy […]

Pedra Branca and the Energy Dilemmas of Rio’s Urbanization: From Charcoal to Electricity

By Antonio Alonso, Iamni Torres Jager • Translation by Trisha Ponti • November 1, 2021

Clique aqui para Português This article is part of a series on energy justice and efficiency in Rio’s favelas. It is also the latest contribution to our year-long reporting project, “Rooting Anti-Racism in the Favelas: Deconstructing […]

Energy That Comes From Waste: Biodigester Turns Sewage into Biogas in Vale Encantado Favela [VIDEO]

By Jaqueline Suarez • Translation by Saskia Wright • August 1, 2021

Clique aqui para Português This English subtitled documentary is the latest contribution to our series on energy justice and efficiency in Rio’s favelas. It is also part of a series created in partnership with […]

In Rio de Janeiro, of Two Favelas at Risk of Landslides in the Same Environmental Protection Area, Only One Receives Preventative Measures From the City

By Felipe Migliani • Translation by Yasmin Quaife • December 22, 2024

‘Nature-based Solutions in the Favelas’ Presented in Parallel to the G20

By Bárbara Dias • Translation by Yasmin Quaife • November 29, 2024

Clique aqui para Português On November 14, the Sustainable Favela Network (SFN)*, in partnership with the National Secretariat for the Peripheries (SNP) of Brazil’s Ministry of Cities, hosted the launch event for the publication Nature-based […]

Rio Civil Society Gathers Across Numerous Events to Demand Climate Action, Unite Against Big Steel, and Launch a Summer Adaptation Plan

By Amanda Baroni Lopes • Translation by Ujwala Murthy • November 22, 2024

Between the Political Right and Left, I Choose the Quilombo! [OPINION]

By Jeferson Rodrigues • Translation by Sharonya Vadakattu • March 3, 2022

Clique aqui para Português This article is the latest contribution to our award-winning reporting project, Rooting Anti-Racism in the Favelas: Deconstructing Social Narratives About Racism in Rio de Janeiro. We hear about “right” and “left” all the time. […]

A Deeply Personal In-Depth Account of the Typical Racism of Domestic Work in Brazil

By Neuza Nascimento • Translation by Fred Hanson • February 28, 2022

Clique aqui para Português This article is the latest contribution to our award-winning reporting project, Rooting Anti-Racism in the Favelas: Deconstructing Social Narratives About Racism in Rio de Janeiro. This story, told by writer and former domestic worker […]

I Want To Read Black Authors: When Will We See Proper Representation in Brazilian Schools and Universities? [OPINION]

By Cynthia Rachel Pereira Lima • Translation by Carolyn Oliveira • February 25, 2022

Clique aqui para Português This is our latest article in a series created in partnership with the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies at San Diego State University, to produce articles for the Digital Brazil Project on climate impacts and affirmative action in […]