ABOUT
The Structure Within is a creative community dedicated to developing and promoting a shared language around internalised oppression and racism.
The project was conceived by Professor Mónica Moreno Figueroa, a professor of Sociology at the University of Cambridge. It is grounded in her academic research on the logics of racism and anti-racism in Mexico and Latin America, as well as her over fifteen years of anti-racist activism as co-founder of the Colectivo para Eliminar el Racismo (COPERA).
The main goal of this initiative is to delve into the challenges we face when collaborating for social change.
Our argument is that internalised oppression undermines social transformation programmes from within. A key aspect of the project has been finding effective ways to communicate this to individuals and organisations committed to social transformation.
The Structure Within aims to help us integrate this perspective into our work.
The materials developed for this project include:
- An animated short film
- A podcast series
- Educational resources for working on The Structure Within
- A book (coming soon)
Imagine what your life would be like if there was no sexism, racism, fat oppression or class distinctions. What marvels could we all be doing?"— Professor Mónica Moreno Figueroa
Sponsors
The Structure Within has received funding from the British Academy Fellowship (2022-23), the ESRC IAA Social Science Impact Fund (2022-23), UKRI ODA funding (2023-24) and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation (2024-25).
Meet the team
Mónica G. Moreno Figueroa
Professor of Sociology / University of Cambridge
Mónica G. Moreno Figueroa is a Black, mixed-race Mexican woman who has lived in the United Kingdom for over 25 years. She is currently a Professor of Sociology at the University of Cambridge. In 2010, she co-founded the COPERA Collective, an initiative dedicated to making racism in Mexico visible and transforming it from a collective, emotional, and structural perspective. Through COPERA, she promotes public campaigns, media interventions, training programs, and consulting services to advance an anti-racist agenda.
Her research explores the lived and intersectional experience of race and racism in Mexico and Latin America, with a particular interest in anti-racism and its impact within and beyond academia. She also works on feminist theory, intersectionality, and the emotional effects of oppression. She is an expert in qualitative methods and visual methodologies and is known for fostering interdisciplinary collaborations that link critical thinking with social action.
She is currently leading the creation of the Global Racisms Institute for Social Transformation (GRIST), a space for research, collaboration, and action aimed at imagining and building anti-racist futures from a global perspective.
Fabiola Fernández Guerra Carrillo
Founder / 11.11 Cambio Social
Fabiola Fernández Guerra Carrillo is a white-mestiza Mexican woman, whose research, lectures, and campaigns explore the intersections of race, gender and discrimination. Her work employs anti-racist communication, anti-oppressive strategies, family trees and ancestral knowledge for collective healing.
She is the founder of the communication agency 11.11 Cambio Social, founding partner of Comparte una Ola A.C., member of the COPERA collective and member of the Latin American Reflection Network on Children and Youth, Red REIR.
She is currently completing a postdoctoral degree with her project Ancestral Futures at the Center for Transdisciplinary Research in Psychology of the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos.
Wilson Borja
Visual artist & animator
Wilson Borja is a visual artist and animator. He is a former Fulbright scholar with a Masters in Fine Arts from the University of Arkansas. He currently combines his artistic practice with teaching at the Faculty of Arts at the National University of Colombia. His research work explores different nuances of the phenomenon of migration and the African diaspora through drawing, painting, engraving and animation.
Arfaxad Ortiz
Radio producer
Producer of Radio UNAM from 1997 to 2017. Head of the Production Division (Deputy Director) of Radio IPN from 2017 to 2019. First and Second Place Winner at the 11th International Radio Biennial 2016 with The Silence of Absence and Resiliente-Rosa Parks, respectively. Professor at the FES Aragón and the FES Acatlán. Founding director of the projects Textual Pleasures and Presumed Guests. Within the framework of the LX anniversary of Radio UNAM, the Coordination of Cultural Diffusion extended recognition to him for his outstanding participation in the extension of university thought and the dissemination of culture in 1997.
Gabriela García
Performing Artist & Psychotherapist
Gabriela García is a mestizo woman from the north of Guerrero. She is a performing artist, psychotherapist and mother. Based in the United Kingdom, her work seeks the integration and ethical expression of individual and collective experiences. She is the founder of Embodied Theatre and a specialist in Body Psychotherapy.
Joe Cotton
Project Coordinator
Joe is a project coordinator and communications professional with an MPhil in Sociology: Modern Society and Global Transformations from the University of Cambridge. He has been highly involved in supporting racial justice projects based at the University, including Decolonise Sociology, Black Cantabs, the End Everyday Racism campaign, the Black British Voices project, the Race Equality Network and the Black Advisory Hub.