Race and Affirmative Action

The Implementation of Quotas for "Black" Students in a Brazilian University

Bibliographic Data

ID3779899
AuthorsAndré Cicalo (Freie Universität Berlin, corresponding author)
Year2013
Issue16
Pages113-133
Publication date2013-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAntípoda Revista de Antropología y Arqueología (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2011-4273 • E-ISSN: 1900-5407
PublisherUniversidad de los Andes (PUBLISHER • VE)
DOI10.7440/antipoda16.2013.06
OpenAlexW1981067848
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited13

In 2003, some Brazilian public universities began to reserve a percentage of their posts (quotas) to “black” students, allowing them to be accepted with lower scores at the admission exam. These type of policies became common during the last decade as a way to fight against social inequalities, but have also become the object of public disagreement due to its potentially “racializing” character. The present article engages with the racial-quota debate, using some ethnographic data collected at the University of the State of Rio de Janeiro between 2007 and 2008. The author defends these measures as a way to diversify what have been traditionallyelite university spaces and as a way to increase chances of social mobility for lowerclass students. These facts should be considered within a debate on affirmative action, without necessarily implying that racial quotas should be the best and only solution to address racial inequalities in Brazilian education

Action (physics · Affirmative action · Demographic economics · Economics · Higher education · Inequality · Political science · Race (biology · Racism · Social mobility · Social science · Sociology · State (computer science · Education Pedagogy and Practices · Gender Studies · Law · Public Administration · Race, Identity, and Education in Brazil

Tools

Open DOISci-HubOpen Access