Ari Schuller

Doctoral Guest Researcher 

Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies
October 2025

Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
ari.schuller@ufrgs.br

Title of current research project: "The Invisibility of Black People in Brazilian Higher Education" 

Ari Schuller
© Ari Schuller

Academic Profile

My research project, entitled "The Invisibility of Black People in Brazilian Higher Education," aims to investigate how asymmetric dependence can be useful in understanding how the history of slavery in Brazil shaped and structured the institutional culture of higher education institutions, resulting in the near absence of Black professors on the faculty. The research proposal is based on the hypothesis that the exclusion of Black people from university faculty is not only statistical, but also symbolic and epistemological, directly affecting—in the case of my field of work—the construction of legal knowledge and the democratization of academic production. Regarding research in the socionormative field, the topic offers an opportunity to reflect on historical, sociological, cultural, and legal frameworks that recur in societies with slave-owning pasts and in current societies permeated by prejudice and corresponding structures of inequality.

2025
PhD candidate in Law, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

2017–2021
Master's Degree in Criminology, Fernando Pessoa University, Portugal

2011–2012
Specialization in Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure, Verbo Jurídico, Brazil

2003–2008
Bachelor's Degree in Law, Catholic University of Pelotas, Brazil

2025
Researcher at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

2025
Member of the Special Truth Commission on Black Slavery, Brazilian Bar Association

2025
Member of the Anti-Racism Research Center of the Law School of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

2023–2024
Visiting Researcher, Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil

    Book

    • 2022. Violence in the Military Police Context: Aggression and Victimization of Brazilian Police Officers. 1st ed. Belo Horizonte: Conhecimento.

     

    Book Chapters

    • "Dialogues with Guarantees and Equality, by Luigi Ferrajoli."
    • "Racism and Coloniality in the Brazilian Penal System: Analysis and Perspectives for Transformation."
    • "Anti-Discrimination Education in Brazil under the Protection of Human Rights and Inspired by Fraternal Law."
    • "Human Rights and Anti-Racist Education in Brazil."
    • "Virtual Racism."

     

    Full Articles Published in Journals

    • "Racism in Brazil and the Protection of Human and Constitutional Rights."
    • "Hidden Intolerance: A Legal and Sociocultural Analysis of Religious Racism in Contemporary Brazil."
    • "Fraternal Law and the Promotion of Black Women's Health: A Legal and Social Analysis."
    • "The Intersection between Environmental Ethics and Professional Ethics in Law: Responsibilities and Challenges."