Djamila Taís Ribeiro dos Santos (born 1 August 1980) is a Brazilian academic, philosopher, writer, and activist. She is best known for her studies on racism and Black feminism.
Overview She is currently a Visiting Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she is part of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Visiting Professors Program.
A practitioner of candomblé and initiated for the orixá Oxóssi, she holds a master's degree in Political Philosophy from the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp). Ribeiro has emerged as a leading voice in black feminism, both in Brazil and internationally, with a significant presence in the media.
Ribeiro is a prominent figure in the publishing world, whose influence and contributions have been widely recognized. An author of works that have sold over 1 million copies, she also coordinates the Plural Feminisms Collection, an initiative that has published fourteen books by Black authors, predominantly women, with a focus on accessibility and the democratization of knowledge. This project has played a key role in promoting literary diversity and inclusion in Brazil, earning Djamila recognition for efforts in democratizing books and reading.
Additionally, her works have achieved international attention, being translated into multiple languages, as English (Yale University Press), French (Éditions Anacaona), Spanish (Txalaparta, Mandacaru and Tumbalacasa), Italian (Capovolte) and also featured at literary festivals around the world.
Since 2019, she has kept a weekly column at Folha de S.Paulo, while also previously writing for CartaCapital. Also in 2019, Ribeiro was considered by BBC one of the 100 most influential women in the world. Continuing in alignment with her political thinking, she filed a lawsuit against Twitter in 2020, under the accusation that the platform profits from racist comments and hate speech.
In 2022, she founded Espaço Feminismos Plurais a non-profit institute in São Paulo that offers a range of free services for women in social vulnerability. As a scholar, she worked at prestigious universities, like the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo and, in 2024, she was invited to teach for a semester at New York University (NYU) at Andrés Bello Chair.
Djamila Ribeiro in the United States In 2024, her book Lugar de Fala was translated into English and published as “Where We Stand” by Yale University Press. Translated by Padma Viswanathan and edited by Abbie Storch, this edition features a foreword by Nigerian philosopher Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, one of Ribeiro's cited influences, and includes commentaries by influential U.S. scholars such as Patricia Hill Collins, Ibram X. Kendi, Linda Alcoff, Priyamvada Gopal, and Kia Lilly Caldwell.
Invited to assume the Andrés Bello Chair for Visiting Professors at New York University (NYU), Ribeiro spent a semester teaching courses on the feminisms of the Global South and exploring the intersectionality of race, gender, and class through theories developed by women from that region. During her tenure, she also hosted public debates and lectures featuring scholars such as Kendi, Selma Dealdina, Alessandra Devulsky, Linda Alcoff and Nadia Yala Kisukidi for public debates and lectures.
Following the launch of Where We Stand, Ribeiro embarked on an extensive tour, visiting institutions including Yale, Harvard, Spelman College, San Diego State University, Rutgers University, University of Georgia and UCLA, as well as the Politics and Prose bookstore, discussing the concept of "place of speech," a central theme in her work.
In Brazil, Ribeiro has promoted the translation and publication of U.S. literature. Through her publishing imprint, she released the first Portuguese translation of Black Power: The Politics of Liberation by Charles V. Hamilton and Kwame Ture, and she authored the foreword for the Brazilian editions of works by prominent American authors, including Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
Ribeiro's initial foray into writing forewords in Brazil was with Angela Davis’s Women, Race, and Class. After initiating contact with Davis in 2015 to facilitate a translation, the Brazilian edition was published in 2016 and subsequently promoted through a book tour. In 2018, while serving as curator of Brazil's largest book club, Ribeiro selected Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye as her favorite novel. With Morrison's authorization and a few months before the author's death, Ribeiro wrote the foreword for the Brazilian edition - a contribution that played a significant role in the republishing of Morrison's complete works in Brazil.
In 2020, Ribeiro compiled a collection of articles and poems written by Audre Lorde, resulting in the book Sou sua irmã: Escritos reunidos e inédito. It was published by Editora Ubu, with a translation by Stephanie Borges.
In recognition of her work, Ribeiro was honored with the Gender Equality and Racial Inclusion Award at the 8th Leadership for the Americas Awards Gala hosted by the Inter-American Dialogue in 2023, held at the Organization of American States headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Media In 2014, an interview with journalist Pedro Bial on the program Na Moral brought Ribeiro national visibility. Her social media posts became a platform for discussing Black feminism, racism, and philosophy, resonating with a broad Brazilian audience. In addition to strengthening her digital presence, she also contributed an online column to CartaCapital for five years.
In 2018, TEDx São Paulo hosted Ribeiro for a talk titled “Precisamos romper com os silêncios” (“We Need to Break Through the Silences”), which addressed social inclusion and justice and marked one of her first appearances with international reach. During this period, she also contributed to media outlets such as Al Jazeera, CGTN, and The Guardian, among others. Since then, she has been contributing opinion articles to foreign publications, such as the Italian newspaper Il manifesto and the German magazine Der Spiegel.
During this period, Ribeiro created her Instagram account, which over the years has attracted 1.2 million followers. On the platform, she shares her political opinions, educational content on Black feminism, and updates on her media presence, including features on the covers of magazines such as Marie Claire Brasil, Claudia, Elle, Ela, O Globo, Forbes, and Forbes Life.
In 2019, Djamila was invited by Folha de São Paulo to write a weekly opinion column for its prestigious Ilustrada section. Her debut piece, published on June 21, was titled “Desculpe, Whitney” (“Sorry, Whitney”), in which she reflected on her love for Whitney Houston in contrast with the academic vanity that rejected pop music. In 2024, Djamila wrote a series of articles about the orixás in Brazilian Candomblé. In 2025, in an interview with the Portuguese newspaper Expresso, Ribeiro stated that the publishing house Caminho will release two volumes featuring her columns from 2019 to 2024, with the first being unveiled at the Lisbon Book Fair in June 2025.
She has been a recurring guest on Brazilian TV. At the prestigious Brazilian interview show Roda Viva and, in 2020, participated as a panelist during an interview with Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil - an icon of the Tropicália movement. Later, she interviewed Nigerian philosopher Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, beginning the collaboration that led to Adichie writing the foreword for the United States edition of Ribeiro's work. In 2023, Ribeiro appeared on PodPah, one of Brazil's largest podcasts hosted by Igor Cavalari (Igão) and Thiago Marques (Mítico), and later that year on the nationally recognized podcast Bom Dia Obvious.
Ribeiro has also been involved in numerous brand campaigns. With Chevrolet, she co-created the Elas Na Direção campaign, which encouraged women to obtain their driver's licenses. Over 300,000 women registered for the campaign. For Continental, a home appliance company, Ribeiro recorded a series addressing gender equity. In the realms of beauty and fashion, she served as the face of both the La Vie Est Belle perfume campaign and Prada's Galleria bag campaign and in 2019, she participated in an Avon campaign.
Since 2020, Ribeiro has served as an ambassador for Johnnie Walker Brazil, co-creating and leading campaigns featuring prominent Black Brazilian feminists, such as the late Lélia Gonzalez (with her family's authorization), Carla Akotirene, and Kiusam Oliveira.
When questioned about negotiating contracts with brands, Djamila emphasizes the importance of the economic empowerment of the Black population. She also states the importance of the presence of Black community in media and advertisement.
The Espaço Feminismos Plurais The first step of Espaço Feminismos Plurais was taken when Ribeiro published her book Lugar de Fala, in 2017, inaugurating the Plural Feminism Collection. Written in accessible language and offered at an affordable price, the collection features paperback titles by Black women and men addressing contemporary issues of gender and race. Since its debut, the collection has expanded to 14 titles, with over 500,000 copies sold.
In 2022, Ribeiro furthered her commitment to social inclusion by founding the Espaço Feminismos Plurais (Plurals Feminisms Space), a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting socially vulnerable women in São Paulo. Through its initiatives, the Plurals Feminisms Space offers in-person services that include intellectual and professional training as well as free psychological, legal, literary, therapeutic, and dental support.
In 2023, with the support of Maurício Rocha, an entrepreneur and the organization's administrative director, the Instituto moved into a building in Moema, an upscale neighborhood in São Paulo. Between 2022 and 2025, the Instituto hosted institutional visits from prominent figures such as French Chancellor Catherine Collona, Fariba Derakshian from the Dutch Prince Claus Fund, and Mexican scholar Joaquín Terrones with a group of Black students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), among others.
The institute has also developed institutional initiatives in collaboration with the Formula 1 Grand Prix and the Escola do Mecânico to train women in courses on mechanics, sheet metal work, and forklift operation. Additionally, since 2023, it has organized acceleration programs for women-led initiatives under the Johnnie Walker Fund for Women Entrepreneurs in partnership with Senac. Since its inception, the organization has received support from companies such as Vivo and Baterias Moura.
Moreover, the Espaço has established partnerships with Casa Rosângela Rigo, the first municipal public facility dedicated to providing shelter for women experiencing domestic violence. Under Djamila's leadership and vision, the project “Será que é amor?” (“Is it love?”) was launched. This initiative includes a booklet written in accessible language to help women recognize the signs of violence and locate available support, as well as a series of talks designed to raise awareness about how to handle vulnerable or risky situations. The booklet and talks were developed and presented by Brazilian social worker Rosilene Pimentel.
Since its founding, the Espaço has served more than 1,000 women annually through its free support services and has brought together thousands of people at book launches and cultural events.
Biography
Early Ears (1980 - 2014) Djamila Ribeiro is the youngest of the four children of Joaquim José Ribeiro dos Santos and Erani Benedita dos Santos Ribeiro. Her father was a dockworker, an activist in the black movement and one of the founders of the Communist Party (PC) in Baixada Santista, who first introduced her to activism; during her childhood, they would go to protests against the privatization of the Port of Santos.