RioOnWatch – reporting by and from Rio favelas

Portrait of a Centenary-Old Favela of Stilt Houses: Belém’s Vila da Barca Resists, Organizes and Fights for Sanitation and Adequate Housing

By Julio Santos Filho • Translation by Staff • December 4, 2025

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 […]

The Story of Dona Pascoalina, Midwife and Healer of Morro do Borel

By Igor Soares • Translation by Aaron Scott • November 30, 2025

Clique aqui para Português This article marks Brazilian Black Awareness Month 2025 and is part of RioOnWatch‘s series on Memories of Favela Power, which documents and celebrates the history of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas through […]

‘There’s No Such Thing as Normal After a Massacre’: One Week After Police Mega-Operation Kills 121 People, Residents From Complexos do Alemão and Penha Speak Out

By Felipe Lucena • Translation by Ujwala Murthy • November 15, 2025

Clique aqui para Português In the early morning of October 28, 2025, 2,500 Civil Police and Military Police officers entered the Penha and Alemão favela complexes for a mega-operation that became the deadliest in the […]

‘Human Beings Forget That They Are Nature’: Favelas Teach the Path to the Future at the 2nd Favela Sustainability Festival

By Manuela David • Translation by Louisa Morrison • November 13, 2025

Clique aqui para Português This is the second of two articles complementing official coverage of the 2nd Sustainable Favela Festival. Click here for part one. During the countdown to COP30 in Belém, the climate conference […]

Food Sovereignty and Culinary Heritage Connect with Fight for Climate Justice at the 2nd Sustainable Favela Festival

By Joana Stewart • Translation by Marina Devine Guzmán • November 12, 2025

Clique aqui para Português This is the first of two articles complementing official coverage of the 2nd Sustainable Favela Festival. Click here for part two. Organized by the Sustainable Favela Network (SFN)*, the 2nd Sustainable […]

In Rio, 2nd Sustainable Favela Festival ‘Favelas at the Center of Climate Solutions’ Engages 1300 and Launches ‘COP30 Letter From the World’s Informal Settlements’: ‘Nothing That Impacts Us, Without Us!’

By Bárbara Dias • Translation by Staff • November 11, 2025

Clique aqui para Português Bringing together 1,300 people on Saturday, October 18, at Fundição Progresso in Lapa, downtown Rio de Janeiro, the 2nd Sustainable Favela Festival featured 140 activities in a rich exchange of […]

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 […]

Victory Against Eviction! 200 Year-Old Horto Community Wins Battle to Stay After 40 Years of Resistance

By Felipe Litsek • Translation by Staff • November 8, 2025

Clique aqui para Português October 13, 2025 will go down in the history of Horto, in Rio de Janeiro’s South Zone, as the day when the community signed a historic agreement that ends the threat […]

In Rio de Janeiro, Century-Old Communities on Governor’s Island Speak Out Against Threats of Forced Eviction by the Brazilian Air Force

By Fernanda Delatorre • Translation by Sylvia Schiller • October 20, 2025

Clique aqui para Português The possibility of forcibly evicting the Maracajás, Rádio Sonda, and Estrada do Galeão No. 92 favelas, located near the Tom Jobim (Galeão) International Airport where tourists visiting Rio land each day, […]

Brazil’s Favela Community Land Trust Project Celebrates Seven Years Building a Movement Across Brazil

By Tarcyla Fidalgo • Translation by Staff • August 31, 2025

Clique aqui para Português The Community Land Trust is a model of collective land tenure that combines individual freedom with collective strength by separating land and home ownership. Originating in the United States in the […]

Tenth Edition of ‘Black July’ Connects Rio Favelas and Palestinians Against State Terrorism

By Amanda Baroni Lopes • Translation by Staff • July 17, 2025

Clique aqui para Português On Saturday, July 5, the tenth edition of Black July took place at the Maré Museum, in the group of favelas that make up Complexo da Maré, in Rio de Janeiro’s […]

‘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

By Sinara Rúbia • Translation by Staff • June 7, 2025

Clique aqui para Português On Friday, May 30, Rio de Janeiro’s Museum of Tomorrow, located in the city’s Port Region, hosted the 1st Seminar of the Anti-Racist Museums Program. Co-organized by the New Blacks Institute […]

Samba Abstrato Exposes the Whitening of Samba Schools [OPINION]

By Paulo Mileno • Translation by Staff • March 10, 2025

Clique aqui para Português Launched in 2016, the Samba Abstrato (Abstract Samba) Facebook page was created to document the appropriation and whitening of Brazilian carnival samba schools, as well as to confront the invasion of […]

‘There’s No Such Thing as Normal After a Massacre’: One Week After Police Mega-Operation Kills 121 People, Residents From Complexos do Alemão and Penha Speak Out

By Felipe Lucena • Translation by Ujwala Murthy • November 15, 2025

A Massacre! Rio de Janeiro’s Deadliest Police Operation Sparks Mourning, Fear and Outrage in the Favelas, Across the City, Brazil and Around the World Say #VoicesFromSocialMedia

By RioOnWatch Editorial • Translation by Staff • October 30, 2025

Clique aqui para Português This article is part of RioOnWatch’s ongoing #VoicesFromSocialMedia series, which compiles perspectives posted on social media by favela residents and community organizers about events and societal themes that arise. October 28, 2025, will […]

*Highlight

In the Favela of City of God, Pioneering Elderly Day Care ‘Casa de Santa Ana’ Has Fought the Isolation and Confinement of Seniors for 30 Years

By Amanda Baroni Lopes • Translation by Yasmin Quaife • August 27, 2025

Clique aqui para Português Established in 1988, initially to offer religious support to a group of 20 elderly residents of City of God, in Rio de Janeiro’s West Zone, Casa de Santa Ana (Santa Ana’s […]

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 […]

Portrait of a Centenary-Old Favela of Stilt Houses: Belém’s Vila da Barca Resists, Organizes and Fights for Sanitation and Adequate Housing

By Julio Santos Filho • Translation by Staff • December 4, 2025

‘Human Beings Forget That They Are Nature’: Favelas Teach the Path to the Future at the 2nd Favela Sustainability Festival

By Manuela David • Translation by Louisa Morrison • November 13, 2025

Food Sovereignty and Culinary Heritage Connect with Fight for Climate Justice at the 2nd Sustainable Favela Festival

By Joana Stewart • Translation by Marina Devine Guzmán • November 12, 2025

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 […]