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Latest News
  • [ June 21, 2025 ] ‘We’re Working at the Micro Level Because There Are People Destroying Things on a Macro Scale’: In Rio de Janeiro, ‘Green Roof Favela’ Engages Popular Culture on World Environment Day Civil Society
  • [ June 20, 2025 ] Get to Know ‘Gaia Space’, A Network of Women Fighting for Environmental Justice and Obstetric Dignity in Greater Rio de Janeiro *Highlight
  • [ June 10, 2025 ] Groundbreaking Oral History Project—‘Favela Climate Memory’—Launches Final Exhibition, Fostering Emotional Connection Between Climate, Nature and Community [Video] *Highlight
  • [ June 7, 2025 ] ‘Being a Black Woman Running a Museum Means Facing the Past, Eye to Eye… It’s Reparation in Motion’: Sinara Rúbia’s Full Speech at Brazil’s 1st Seminar on Anti-Racist Museums *Highlight
  • [ June 5, 2025 ] ‘A Museology That Doesn’t Serve Life Serves No Purpose’: ‘Unconventional’ Favela Museums Lead First Seminar of Rio de Janeiro’s Social Museology Network *Highlight
HomeCulture

Culture

*Highlight

Art, Resistance and Ancestral Struggle at Carnival, Part 1: Exploring Rio’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Through the Traditional Bate-Bola Clowns of the Peripheries

By Tatiana Lima • Translation by Staff • February 11, 2024

Clique aqui para Português This is the first in a series of three articles about carnival traditions in Rio’s favelas and peripheries, respectively: the Bate-Bola clowns, an indelible tradition in the North and West Zones, […]

*Highlight

Carnival of Literature! Spaces of Black Resistance, Rio de Janeiro’s Samba Schools Host Literary Festivals that Boost Racial Literacy

By Carol Marinho • Translation by Staff • February 9, 2024

Clique aqui para Português February 9, 2024—Afro-Indigenous Brazilian literature is a growing source of inspiration for samba schools as they organize Rio de Janeiro’s carnival parades. During the 2024 carnival, which starts today, a number […]

*Highlight

Rio’s Urban Peripheries Literary Festival Hosts 13th Edition and Celebrates Ancestral Black and Indigenous Orality in ‘Little Africa’

By Vinícius Ribeiro • Translation by Kay Alvito • November 30, 2023

Clique aqui para Português For Brazilian Black Awareness Month, this article covered Rio de Janeiro’s Urban Peripheries Literary Festival (FLUP) on pioneering Afro-Brazilian authors—the Black elders of Brazilian literature: Machado de Assis, Lima Barreto, and […]

*Highlight

Bumba-meu-boi Brilho de Lucas Keeps Maranhão Folklore Alive in Rio

By Carol Marinho, Luana de Moraes • Translation by Nina Lebelbaum • November 19, 2023

Clique aqui para Português During the celebration of Brazil’s Folklore Day 2023, we learned more about how the residents of Parada de Lucas, in Rio de Janeiro’s North Zone, continue to breathe life into ‘bumba […]

*Highlight

Exhibition ‘IGNITE: Where You Seek Action, I Am Spirit’ in Rio de Janeiro’s North Zone Addresses Creative Liberty of Black, Favela, and Peripheral Artists

By Felipe Migliani • Translation by Sana Khan • November 13, 2023

Clique aqui para Português From September 23 to October 28, 2023, the exhibition IGNITE: Where You Seek Action, I am Spirit was held in Vila da Penha, a neighborhood in the North Zone of Rio de Janeiro, […]

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RioOnWatch’s anti-racist reporting series won silver in the 2022 inaugural The Anthem Awards, in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion category among Best Local Awareness Programs.
A Project of

About

In May 2010, Catalytic Communities launched what was originally Rio Olympics Neighborhood Watch (hence RioOnWatch), a program to bring visibility to favela community voices in the lead-up to the 2016 Rio Olympics. This news site, RioOnWatch.org, grew into a much-needed and unique reference featuring favela perspectives on the urban transformation of Rio. With diverse and deeply interlinked articles by a mix of community reporters, resident opinions, solidarity reporters, international observers, and academic researchers, we work to engender a more accurate picture of favelas, their contributions to the city, and the potential of favela-led community development in Rio and around the world.

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Awards

Special Thanks

Fundação Heinrich Böll Brasil
World Habitat
Fideicomiso de la Tierra Caño Martín Peña
Pastoral de Favelas
Center for CLT Innovation
Global Land Alliance
Ecocity Builders
Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation
SDSU Behner Stiefel Center
The Rio Times
Forum Grita Baixada
Beto Paixão Graphic Design
Architecture Museum of Vienna
Yale School of Architecture

  • Home
    • Highlighted Stories
    • Understanding Rio
    • Reference Articles
  • Communities
    • Central
    • South Zone
    • North Zone
    • West Zone
    • Greater Rio
  • Policies
    • Public Security
    • Housing
    • Transport
    • Education
    • Health
    • Sanitation
  • Violations
    • Human Rights
    • Housing Rights
    • Police Violence
    • Government Neglect
  • Organizing
    • Community Organizing
    • Community Solution
    • Resistance
    • Sustainability
    • Participation
    • Protest
    • Culture
    • Responsible Tourism
  • Content Map
    • by Community Contributors
    • by Int’l Observers
    • Series
      • Anti-Racist Series
      • Energy Justice Series
    • Event Reports
    • Video Stories
    • Photo-Essays
    • Interviews/Profiles
    • Research & Analysis
    • Book Reviews
    • Film Reviews
    • Listicles
    • Opinion
    • Reference
    • Podcasts
    • Translated Articles
  • About
    • Timeline
    • Our Reporting Policy
    • License
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