On Monday, May 19, 2025, Professora Djamila Ribeiro was one of the guests on the program Sem Censura (Without Censorship), broadcast by TV Brasil, where she spoke about her trajectory in the antiracist struggle and the growing international reach of her work.

Her book Lugar de Fala was published last year for English-speaking audiences under the title Where We Stand (Yale University Press). In addition, after teaching for a semester in 2024 at New York University (NYU), the writer and philosopher is preparing to take on, in the coming semester, the position of visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the top-ranked university in the world. Djamila is the first Brazilian to teach at MIT through a program that honors Martin Luther King Jr.

Other works by Djamila, such as Cartas para minha avó (Letters to My Grandmother), her most recent publication, are reaching international audiences, with translations into Italian and French.

Where We Stand on Sem Censura

During her conversation with host Cissa Guimarães, Djamila emphasized how the concept of place of speech helps broaden the racial debate.

“‘Place of speech’ does not mean that only Black people can talk about racism. Quite the opposite. Everyone has a place of speech,” she said, adding: “So, it’s not about what is said. It’s about where it is said from. In other words, we can all talk about everything, but we will speak from different places. Because if you are a white woman and I am a Black woman, you come from a different social position than I do. That influences how each of us experiences and understands the world,” she explained.

The coordinator of the Feminismos Plurais collection also stressed that the debate on racism must be both critical and collective: “If there is a group being discriminated against, there is a group doing the discriminating. It’s important that the group that has historically benefited from oppression understands what that means,” she pointed out.

Djamila Ribeiro reminded viewers that whiteness should be understood as a historically constructed position of privilege within the racism that shaped Brazilian society—not as something natural.

“What do almost four centuries of slavery in this country mean? A slavery that was the foundation of the Brazilian economy and that impoverished the Black population. After abolition, there was no policy of reparation whatsoever,” she noted.

The visiting professor at MIT reinforced that the goal of the concept of place of speech is to expand—not restrict—the debate: “It has nothing to do with prohibition. On the contrary: we must broaden the discussion and bring in these multiple worldviews so that we can enrich society,” she concluded.