Black Student Understandings of Affirmative Action in Brazil

• In Event: 47.084 - The Black Student Experience in Higher Ed

Abstract

This study centers Black student understandings of affirmative action in Brazilian higher education. Interviews with 39 university students conducted in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro reveal three distinct characteristics used to describe and critique the policy – 1. Opportunity - the chance to gain entry to higher education; 2. Reparation – retributions for descendants of enslaved Africans and Indigenous peoples; and 3. Insufficient - not enough to holistically address Brazil’s education problems. These findings illuminate Black student agency in making meaning of affirmative action, situates them as experts of their own experiences, and legitimizes them as policy evaluators. Therefore, I argue that policy analysts should consider policy beneficiaries in creation, implementation, and evaluation processes.

Author

• Jeana E. Morrison, Boston University