In 2001, the State universities of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ and UENF) were the first Brazilian public universities to reserve 40% of their places for self-declared blacks (negros) and browns (pardos). In 2004, the University of Brasilia became the first federal university to implement an affirmative policy for black (negros) and indigenous people in Brazil. In the present article it is my intention to focus on contingent aspects in the making of these policies. While looking into both cases as two institutional discourses of race, I seek to challenge two common and equally problematic interpretations of the current race-assertive politics in Brazil, namely: (a) one that sees these affirmative action initiatives as the result of a kind of inevitable process towards the disclosure of Brazil's hidden and actual plurality of "races;" (b) and another that, by contrast, conceives them as a sort of "imported model" that is not only imposed from abroad but also incompatible with the Brazilian symbolic order and system of racial classification.
Key words Affirmative action in Brazil . Race studies . Public policies in BrazilIn 2001, the State universities of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ and UENF) were the first Brazilian public universities to reserve 40% of their places for "self-declared blacks (negros) and Int
This paper seeks to analyze three interrelated aspects of the theoretical discussions around "race relations" that were somehow recast in the context of the implementation of quotas for black people in Brazil, namely: 1) the relationship between race and class; 2) the interface between race and culture; 3) the status of race both as a social category and an analytical concept. This will be done in light of the discussions that preceded and were also intensified during the introduction of the first quota policies in Brazilian public universities. First, the paper inquires into the theoretical debate on the interdependence between class and race while pointing to the ways through which these two categories interrelate in the context of affirmative action for black people. Second, it proposes a critical analysis of the theoretical interface between race and culture in light of the disputes regarding the meanings of black identity in this context. Finally, the article analyzes the discussions around racial meanings by occasion of the implementation of affirmative action policies for black people in order to develop reflexive thinking on race as an analytical concept.
Partimos da discussão sobre a “América Latina” como elemento de linguagem e categoria de entendimento da realidade social sob a determinação de processos históricos e contextos geopolíticos, nos quais são conformados diferentes tipos de “latino-americanismo”. Exploramos alguns aspectos relativos à institucionalização e à consolidação de iniciativas em concertação e associação no campo de produção de conhecimento e informação sobre a América Latina, com destaque da área das Ciências Sociais latino-americanas. Norteadas pela noção de “campo” bourdieusiana, apresentamos um mapeamento preliminar sobre o caso brasileiro, compreendendo um conjunto de 146 iniciativas institucionais sediadas no país e em operação, criadas nas últimas quatro décadas e meia, que têm “América Latina” como unidade de análise e foco de atuação.
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