Race, Politics, and Education in Brazil

Brazil has undertaken affirmative action in its universities on an unprecedented scale. An expert group of international scholars puts the new policies in historical, political, and legal context; evaluates their outcomes for students and universities; and demonstrates that the policies have been successful in addressing racial inequality.

"Race, Politics and Education in Brazil is a rich volume which elucidates the complexities of the historical backdrop and political challenges to instituting contemporary race-conscious affirmative action policies within a nation long touted as a "racial democracy." Its contributors deftly demonstrate their expertise and empirical research to provide a thick account of the role of social justice activists, government officials and international human rights organizations in building a consensus to integrate both the curriculum and student body of the historically exclusionary elite spheres of higher education. Bringing together the most recent research on affirmative action in Brazil for an English-reading audience is especially valuable for those concerned about the declining support for affirmative action in the "post-racial" United States because the Brazil story provides useful insights for future activism." - Tanya Kateri Hernandez, author of Racial Subordination in Latin America: The Role of the State, Customary Law, and the New Civil Rights Response (2014)

"Johnson and Heringer have collected a unique, comprehensive, and extremely valuable set of essays on affirmative action in Brazil, a country whose public policies on human rights and social equality increasingly demand attention. This volume's focus on race is timely and sorely needed, as it brings us a multi-faceted overview with updated in-depth analyses of issues and information from the legal, social, ethical, jurisprudential, and statistical fields. It elucidates complex questions Brazil presents for multiracial societies, indeed for the globally multiracial world, with its heritage of "racial democracy" or what I have called "the sorcery of color". We have much to learn from the experience so vividly portrayed in this volume." - Elisa Larkin Nascimento, author of The Sorcery of Color: Identity, Race, and Gender in Brazil (2009)

"There is a dense scholarship on affirmative action and anti-racism in Brazil. This timely book is witness to that and brings about enough evidence that racism can be fought even in a context where ethnic identity is not as solid as many wish or as tangible as it seemingly is in the US. Brazil might not have a distinctly organized black community with black voting, but has shown that this is not a key requirement in attempting to reverse racial injustice. As part of an epochal move to make Brazilian society more inclusive, (attempting to reverse the effects of extreme and durable social and racial inequalities and) in a political context that is often contradictory, affirmative action has proven very good for Brazilian Universities, by making them not only less unjust, but also a more interesting environment." - Livio Sansone, author of Blackness Without Ethnicity: Constructing Race in Brazil (2003)

"Race, Politics, and Education in Brazil is necessary not only because it deals with issues so dear to all of us, like race, politics, and education, but also because it highlights the black movement's leading role in the formation of our society. By discussing affirmative action in higher education, this book enables us to question concepts such as equity, rights, and justice and evaluate how the demands of social movements have been necessary for the continuing search for the application of each one of these terms. Undeniably, a lot of progress has been made in relation to opportunities for black Brazilian men and women. However, much remains to be done. Therefore, one of the main contributions of this book is to cause us to reflect even further on the relevant questions related to the development and consolidation of democracy in Brazil." - Nilma Lino Gomes, Cabinet Minister, Special Office for the Promotion of Racial Equality (SEPPIR), Brazilian Federal Government

"Race, Politics, and Education in Brazil brings together an impressive group of authors, who by adoptign the perspective of an international dialogue, have made a substantive contribution to the reflective body of work on this fundamental topic. Johnson and Heringer, like the other contributors, embody the mature nature of the Brazilian debate on racial affirmative action, a set of public policies that have changed the face of Brazil and the Brazilian university." - Osmundo Pinho, author of O Mundo Negro Hermenêutica Crítica da Reafricanização em Salvador (2012)

"The book is an important record of the period ofstruggles and victories of the Brazilian black population. Since the 1950s, there have been discussion of policies directed toward the black population. Only in the late twentieth century was it possible for a coalition of black movement activists, government officials from the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, professors, liberal professionals, workers, unemployed people, women, men, and youth to come together for the implementation of affirmative action policies in Brazil. Many years of work and struggle were necessary to challenge structural racism while a profoundly unequal and hierarchical society forced daily suffering on millions of blacks. This book represents a significant analysis that documents the advances and setbacks in the struggle against racism in Brazil." - Ivair Augusto Alves dos Santos, author of Direitos Humanos e as Práticas de Racismo (2013)

"In this groundbreaking new volume on race and politics in Brazil, the authors analyze the role that education can play in creating a more just and equitable society. Rooting their analysis in an understanding of history and contemporary Brazilian society, the authors do not shy away from addressing the complex challenges confronting Afro-Brazilians who are increasingly demanding full and equal participation in all sectors of Brazil. For those who seek to understand race and racial inequality in modern Brazil, this book will be an invaluable resource and an insightful guide to how thecountry is changing." - Pedro A. Noguera, author of The Trouble with Black Boys and Other Reflections on Race, Equity, and the Future of Public Education (2008)

"This edited volume makes an essential contribution to the study of affirmative action policies in Brazil. As is well known, Brazil's once dominant "myth of racial democracy" made the contemplation, let alone implementation, of such policies impossible for most of the twentieth century. Johnson and Heringer have here assembled essays that carefully analyze the successes and challenges of affirmative action in particular and racial politics more generally. Equally important, several of the book's chapters focus on the role of black social activism, a factor frequently underappreciated in existing scholarship." - Melissa Nobles, author of Shades of Citizenship: Race and the Census in Modern Politics (2000)

Vera Lúcia Benedito, Brazil Dora Bertulio, Fundação Cultural Palmares Luiz Augusto Campos, Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Político, Brazil Erich Dietrich, New York University, USA João Feres Junior, Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Político, Brazil Rosana Heringer, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Ollie Johnson, Wayne State University, USA Gladys Mitchell-Walthour, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, USA João Vitor Moreno, Brazil Amilcar Araujo Pereira, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Flavia Piovesan, Brazil Sales Augusto dos Santos, Faculdade Projeção, Brazil Verônica Toste, Grupo de Estudos Multidisciplinares da Ação Afirmativa