Sistemas de classificação racial em disputa: comissões de heteroidentificação em três universidades públicas brasileiras

Abstract

Resumo Nesta pesquisa procuro analisar como a introdução de comissões de heteroidentificação (CHI) nas universidades federais tem sido acompanhada de discussões sobre quem tem ou não direito às ações afirmativas, em narrativas raciais que redimensionam os sistemas de classificação por raça/cor em disputa no país. Interessa-nos neste artigo analisar o sistema inicialmente utilizado pelo Estado quando da implantação das ações de reparação para a população negra e as mudanças por que tem passado. Nessas narrativas, que ameaçam a categoria negro, duas figuras são recorrentes: o “branco fraudador” das cotas e o “pardo claro” não reconhecido como negro pelas CHI. Este artigo busca mostrar como os vários debates indicam o efeito das mudanças demográficas e simbólicas que a política de ações afirmativas tem suscitado, tanto no interior das universidades como para além delas.

Seeing Race Like a State: Higher Education Affirmative Action Verification Commissions in Brazil

“…Broadly speaking, there were three dimensions to their criticism. First and most salient in the debate was the suspicion that people socially regarded as “white” were cheating the system by strategically mobilizing the idea that in Brazil racial boundaries are flexible (Leme and Caetano 2016; Neves 2022). 7…”

“…Furthermore, emerging consensus may also be a result of the 2018 ruling, which operationalizes race as phenotype. But even if commisson members may often agree on who are the deserving beneficiaries, light-skinned pardo students not considered black enough by commissions often disagree with that assessment and feel unfairly treated (Neves 2022). The different ways that procedures need to be redesigned and justified suggest that operationalizing race as phenotype may not be as straightforward as surveys relying on the color palette may suggest.…”

“…If racial quotas and explicitly mentioning race seem to encourage people to embrace their blackness, commissions restrict who can claim such an identification, at least in the context of affirmative action policies. As put by Neves (2022), if the white fraudsters are the villains of commissions, the light-skinned pardos are the victims—or collateral damage—of this disciplining of racial boundaries.…”

“…We also found two other papers published in Portuguese that analyze specific dimensions of the verification committees. Rosa et al (2021) analyzes how committees at 17 universities dealt with COVID restrictions, Neves (2022) compares the debates about commissions in 3 universities, and A. Silva et al (2020, 2022) provide a very general overview of the practices of these commissions across 20 universities but largely focus on one case and do not account for the 2018 ruling.…”