ABSTRACT
This chapter engages in a critical overview of what the passage of sweeping affirmative action law means in terms of the place of African descendants in higher education, and its impact on systemic racism and social inclusion in Brazil. It suggests that this major change in educational policy is a mere reflection of the ongoing tension between various forms of social mobilization, and governmental initiative parceled within the context of impending major international events and the perception of Brazil in the international community, as it continues to emerge as a major economic world power. The chapter also suggests that this change in policy does not create impactful change with respect to the justiciability of economic, social, and cultural rights for Afro-Brazilians. It employs the intersection of anthropological and legal critiques to highlight the pitfalls of affirmative action quotas as a tool of correction under the statist discourse of multiculturalism in the representation of racial subjectivities in higher education in Brazil.
