Brazil launches Dara centre to better measure racism's impact

Researchers at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (Uerj) have created Dara – Dados e Análises do Racismo e do Antirracismo – a new research nucleus aimed at quantifying how racism contributes to racial inequality in Brazil. Launched at the end of June, Dara is housed within the Institute of Social and Political Studies (Iesp) and comprises 18 members, most of them Black scholars, who work on data collection, analysis and communication. The centre is funded through a mix of public research grants and philanthropic contributions and is led by sociologist and political scientist Luiz Augusto Campos.

Campos says that while Brazil produces many studies on racial disparity, it lacks rigorous work that isolates racism as a causative mechanism. He notes that experimental research on racism is still in its infancy and that access to official data has become more difficult, hampering long‑term analyses. Dara’s goals are to integrate existing research, introduce modern international methodologies, and provide evidence‑based inputs for public policies aimed at combating racial discrimination. Preliminary findings indicate a regression in Brazil’s capacity to process data on racism and a fragmented landscape of studies that need better coordination.