Welcome to OJALA's website-in-construction. In February 2018, following a scholarly exchange at Florida International University (FIU) (see the Historical Background button above), all participants agreed that the international space of exchange we had opened up could be expanded and somewhat "institutionalized" to secure the production of critical knowledge useful for the defense and improvement of Afrodescendanbts' rights in the Latin American region (see the Objectives button above).
Since February 2018, we have been functioning without a real budget, although we benefited from a couple of one-time supports. One from the Ford Foundation and LASA (Latin American Studies Association) in 2018, in the form of a small grant. And one other from the Wenner Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, in the form of an Initiatives grant to support the development of OJALA at Florida International University (FIU).
This site is in constant development. We are in the process of looking for funds for the development of OJALA as a space coordinating Country-Specific Research and Observation Teams, present in all national contexts of the region.
We invite you to explore the site and see what this Observatory attempts to accomplish. Please, visit us again to keep track of our progress.
Please, share your thoughts.
We can be contacted at ojala@fiu.edu.
Jean Muteba Rahier
October 2020