Djamila Ribeiro on SDCELAR: ‘one of the most important initiatives of museological justice in Latin America to take place in the Global North’

Following the presentation of her book Where We Stand at the University of London, SDCELAR was honoured to host acclaimed Afro-Brazilian feminist author Djamila Ribeiro at the British Museum. SDCELAR’s and Djamila’s paths met again at this crossway brought by a compelling Exu figure from Nigeria at the Museum’s storeroom. The powerful conversations sparked by this encounter not only illuminated the deep connections between West Africa and Brazil, but also the pressing need to better (re)tell these stories.

We were humbled and touched by Djamila Ribeiro’s own account of her visit and our work, published in one of the most important newspapers is Brazil, translated into English below.

Read her column in Portuguese at Folha de São Paulo here.

Exu Awaited My Arrival at the British Museum, one of the largest centres for cultural exchange in the world.

On the last day of my stay in the United Kingdom, after an intense schedule of events promoting the English edition of my book Lugar de Fala, ‘Where We Stand’, I took an afternoon to visit the British Museum. I was accompanied by head of the Santo Domingo Centre of Excellence for Latin American Research (SDCELAR) Louise de Mello, and Santiago Valencia Parra, her Colombian teammate. I went to the museum’s store room, a reserved space that is not open to the public. There, Exu awaited my arrival.

Yes, Exu. The piece from the 1940s that symbolizes the orixá of communication, which was acquired by the British Museum, was the topic of an article I wrote at the invitation of the museum and the Centre in 2020. 

Af1956,27.208, © The Trustees of the British Museum

The article was part of the book ‘Untold Microcosms’, published by the Museum in English and Spanish (‘Volver a contar’), in which I reflect upon the strength of this orixá figure. And there, before him, I asked permission and blessings: may he continue to guide the path of SDCELAR, one of the most important initiatives of museological justice in Latin America to take place in the Global North.

SDCELAR was created in 2019, the mission being to develop collaborative projects with Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities from Latin America and the Caribbean. Since then, the Centre has supported more than 30 initiatives in at least 15 countries.

The goal is not solely to ‘research’ the museum’s Latin American collections, which include over 60,000 items, but also to enable different perspectives to interpret them, considering various issues from territorial struggles to different knowledge systems. The project understands that there can be no justice without self-representation.

Here, I must make a necessary aside. I would truly prefer to be spared a speech about the colonialism of European museums — as if we were naïve and unaware that these institutions, including the British Museum, were formed through plunder from African, Asian, and American chiefdoms. To ignore this would be as naïve as ignoring that the British Museum is now one of the largest museological centres in the world, with meaningful exchanges for the cultural scene of many countries.

Much like States themselves, museums are arenas of dispute. And it is precisely because we know this that the existence of centres like SDCELAR is so urgent.

Djamila Ribeiro, Louise de Mello, Eleonor Schelpe and Santiago Valencia Parra at the British Museum’s collection store. Photos: Brenno Tardelli and Santiago Valencia Parra.

SDCELAR’s work is necessary because it amplifies voices and reconfigures the very concept of a museum. With a small team —made up of Louise, Santiago, and Mexican Clara Ruiz Álvarez— the Centre has organised artistic residencies, exhibitions, and projects with Brazilian universities and Indigenous communities, such as the one that connects the National Museum (UFRJ), the Anthropological Museum of the Federal University of Goiás, and Iny-Karajá leaders from Bananal Island. In 2023, it also hosted the Indigenous Wapichana artist Gustavo Caboco, whose works will soon be part of the British Museum’s permanent exhibition.

These efforts, though modest in the face of the British institution’s vastness, are revolutionary. They put into practice ideas of symbolic restitution, intercultural listening, and decolonisation. When Ykaruni Nawa, a PhD student at the National Museum, said that ‘to self-demarcate is to push for structural change, and if museums need to change, we need to self-demarcate them,’ he precisely described what SDCELAR has been doing: challenging, from within, the colonial foundations of European museology.

Djamila Ribeiro at the British Museum. Photo: Brenno Tardelli.

Today, I write this column with a mix of enthusiasm and concern. Enthusiasm for having seen up close the impact of a centre that works with such seriousness, sensitivity, and commitment to the peoples of the Global South. And concern because SDCELAR’s funding is set to come to an end in September this year. We still don’t know whether it will be renewed.

It is urgent to ensure the continuity of this work. A Centre like this, based in the world’s largest museum, is a window for fairer exchanges, international communication, and political presence for peoples who have been systematically silenced. SDCELAR needs institutional, governmental, and philanthropic support to continue to exist.

That London afternoon, before boarding a train to France, I said goodbye to Exu and thanked Louise for the guided visit. I left certain that it is not enough to demand reparations: we must strengthen the initiatives already doing this work. And Exu is already there, standing at the right crossroads, opening paths for this to happen.

Discover more from Djamila Ribeiro’s visit to the British Museum:

This article was originally published in the newspaper Folha de São Paulo (Brazil) on the 19th of June, 2025.  The author has kindly agreed to let us share this translation.

Translation by Christian Biggie.

Read the column in Portuguese at Folha de São Paulo here.

About the author

Djamila Ribeiro is an Afro-Brazilian philosopher, activist, writer and coordinator of the Plural Feminisms initiative. She is the author of ‘Lugar de fala‘ (2017) – which was published in English as ‘Where We Stand’ in 2024 – ‘Quem tem medo do Feminismo Negro?” (2018), ‘Pequeno manual antirracista‘ (2019) and ‘Cartas para minha avó’ (2021), with a total of more than 1 million copies sold. She is a university professor who has worked at several institutions, such as the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo and New York University. In 2022, Djamila became the first Black woman to integrate the São Paulo Academy of Letters.