The Centre for Afrobrazilian Studies (LASUCAS) was inaugurated at Lagos State University, an academic, sociocultural, and economic center for overall Brazilian heritage in Nigeria and the African diaspora. The purpose of this place is to provide a space for Afrobrazilian studies and research in Lagos.
Besides being an academic environment, the purpose of the Centre is to provide a place for promoting commerce among Afro-Brazilians in Nigeria and its partners in Brazil. LASUCAS also intends to serve as an awareness Center, consciousness-raising, and reference for excellence in Africa for Afro-Brazilian, as well as for intellectuals who are interested in issues on Afro-Brazilian consciousness around the world.
According to professor Babalawô Ivanir dos Santos, from the Rio de Janeiro Federal University (UFRJ) and the Center for the Articulation of Marginalized Populations (CEAP), the creation of this center made it possible to set up exchange projects among professors and students, initiatives, and interdisciplinary studies that can foster and instigate knowledge on the Yoruba language and culture, as well as the Portuguese language and Brazilian culture.
“These interfaces between Brazil and Nigeria are extremely important for our diasporic black communities around the world. I am absolutely certain, we are going to further strengthen our cultural, religious, and intellectual ties. We are part of the African continent! And we need to leave as a legacy for the coming generations all the potentiality of our traditions, just this way, we will be able to make a true rebirth of African and Afro-diasporic ties possible”, stressed Ivanir dos Santos.
Representatives from the Nigerian university, Flávio Bonzanini, the Head Brazilian Consul in Nigeria, and professor Ivanir dos Santos were present at the inauguration of the Centre.
CEAP on a mission in Africa
Besides participating at the inauguration of the Centre for Afrobrazilian Studies in Nigeria, there was a Brazilian delegation, coordinated by professor Ivanir dos Santos made up of intellectual and religious blacks from an African background and who participated in some meetings in Burkina Faso.
There, the group participated in the Journee Scientifique Afrique-Bresil, organized by the International Committee of Joseph Ki-Zerbo pour L’Afrique et as Diaspora (CIJKAD) partnering with CEAP, for the purpose of promoting academic interactions among Brazilian blacks and intellectuals from Burkina Faso.
“The journey is in response to new challenges posed in facing a strong wave of racism, intolerance, and xenophobia that has been intensifying in global relations. A bridge was built by various black African and Afro-Brazilian hands, joining the two ends of the Atlantic Ocean. These bridges are united against all types of discrimination, the absence of equity, respect, and tolerance”, explains the mission coordinator.
According to professor Ivanir dos Santos, there are dialogues taking place expressing the need for holding the 1st Joseph Ki-Zerbo Seminary in Brazil, as well as projects on the feasibility of setting up exchange programs and initiatives especially focused on cultural segments.
The delegation was also present in Burkina Faso and held the 26th edition of the Pan-African Festival of Cinema and Television in Ouagadougou (FESPACO), The oldest and most important cinema festival on the African continent.