HETEROIDENTIFICATION COMMITTEES AND THE PUBLIC UNIVERSITY: PROCESSES, DYNAMICS AND DISPUTES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION POLICIES

Abstract

This article deals with the development of hetero-identification committees in the Universidade Federal Fluminense with a view toward implementing affirmative action of a ethno-racial variety for admission to undergraduate programs and in public selection processes for professors. The adoption of different models by the same institution, based on identity criteria or exclusively on phenotypic criteria, highlights tensions and disputes. By contrasting the institutional operationalization of these different commissions, the article observes the specificities of the models but also certain common elements, especially with reference to the complex relationships between Judiciary, bureaucracies and social movements, as well as the modes of identifying the “pardo” phenotype. Such elements are some of the main challenges in ensuring both the rights of black people to affirmative action and the aim of changing the white monochrome of the classroom in Brazilian public universities