The Journal of the Brazilian Association of Black Researchers (ABPN) has been instrumental in publishing and helping to circulate knowledge regarding Afro-Brazilian and African studies by making available research material across a wide range of academic fields. Furthermore, it brings together researchers, Black or otherwise, who are celebrated for their work investigating ethnic-racial contexts and issues in Brazil, with race serving as one of the main axes of research. Therefore, over the years, the publication has managed to live up to its objectives, namely, “to increase the visibility of discussions on race relations through the work of Black researchers and intellectuals, but also through the work of others committed to promoting racial equity and generating knowledge about Africa and African diasporas, be it on a national or an international scale”. Such epistemological and political perspectives have been thoroughly upheld and, currently, the ABPN Journal is recognized within academic circles for its expertise, for the quality of its articles, for its publication rate and for being a steadfast promoter of Afro-Brazilian and Afro-diasporic epistemologies.

In alignment with the objectives and the historic profile of the Journal, we would like to suggest to the editors the publication of a special issue comprised of a series of interviews with researchers, from Brazil and other Latin-American countries (namely, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay), covering different fields of knowledge, who painstakingly scrutinize the powerful role of the Movimento Negro Educador in shaping anti-racist policies, projects and practices (particularly in Brazil where it originates) and the protagonism often gained by the movement in mobilizing social, cultural and political forces in other Latin American countries as well, so that the struggle against racism is ultimately incorporated into government policy across the American continent.  There is an urgent need to reflect on such issues, at a time when the far-right’s agenda is clearly on the rise all over the world, and particularly in the Americas. The theoretical framework is grounded in the scholarly opus of researcher Nilma Lino Gomes (2017, 2025) concerning the Movimento Negro Educador, which has oriented the implementation of the international research project titled THE MOVIMENTO NEGRO EDUCADOR: DISCOURSES, PRACTICES, AND KNOWLEDGES IN CIRCULATION IN LATIN AMERICA, coordinated by Professors Glenda Melo (coordinator) and Nilma Lino Gomes (deputy coordinator), and funded under CNPq’s MCTI/CNPq Call for Proposals No. 14/2023, in the “Support for International Scientific, Technological, and Innovation Research Projects” category in 2023. This project seeks primarily to analyze and try to understand, from a multisemiotic standpoint, racial discourses and their intersectionality with educational, media, political, cultural, tourism, community and artistic contexts in Brazil and elsewhere in Latin America. 

Among the initiatives of the aforementioned project is the intent to produce, over the course of its duration (2023-2026), a wide variety of publications reflecting on theoretical advances made in this field of research and, ultimately, to disseminate the findings among the participants, as well as the general public.  It is in this light that we bring before the editors a proposal for a special issue of the ABPN Journal focusing on articles (written by the project’s participating researchers) actively engaging with the concept of the Movimento Negro Educador, acknowledging its potential to resonate in other Latin American contexts outside Brazil (where these ideas emerged). As we see it, the role of the Black movement as a political subject,  and as an educating force within society – a foundational notion present in the inception of the Movimento Negro Educador – cuts across different contexts and is reflected in the Afro-diaspora through its histories, achievements, conflicts, challenges, and capacity for negotiation, for intervention, and for promoting change. Building on this analysis arising from the initial research data, the group of researchers adopted an innovative research methodology consisting of interviews carried out among the members themselves who, drawing on their experiences, strand of research and social, cultural and historical contexts, conducted inter- and intra-group interviews, based on the following guiding question:  What links would you establish between the Movimento Negro Educador and your field of research, and ultimately, between the movement and contemporary society? The outcome – besides a greater interaction within the group and a broader understanding of our Latin American political contexts and the diverse epistemological assumptions backing research – was the production of six powerful interviews, which were in turn filmed, transcribed and transformed into academic articles, which would comprise this proposed special issue of the ABPN Journal. 

We therefore propose that the special issue be organized by means of articles and interviews, in Portuguese and in their respective translations into Spanish (given the relevance of Latin America within the research project), as well as into English (due to the project’s international scope), adding up to a total of 21 texts, introductions and articles combined. This trilingual version would serve to promote scientific knowledge, helping it to circulate, and thus greatly facilitating access for scholars from different corners of the world wishing to engage in Afro-diasporic studies.  

The publication has an Editorial Board composed of: Renata de Melo Rosa (Instituto Maria Quitéria), Delton Aparecido Felipe (UEM/PR), Iraneide Soares da Silva (UESPI), Sérgio Pereira dos Santos (UFES/ES), Alexandre Marinho (UERJ/IPEA), Flávia Rodrigues Lima da Rocha (UFAC), Túlio Henrique Pereira (URCA/CE) e Priscila de Oliveira Xavier Scudder (UFPR).