New Experiences of Inclusion: Affirmative Action for Blacks and Natives in Brazil

After several decades of black social movement struggles for rights in Brazilian “racial democracy”, it was recognized by the nation-state the practice of racial discrimination in the country, as well as affirmative action as a policy to correct inequality. In this scenario, the passage of Law 12.711 on Affirmative Action, in 2012 , presupposes a set of substantive changes that alters the access to public high education in Brazil. To understand the social context that has leaded to the mandatory status of education on racial and ethnic relations as well as African and African-Brazilian history and culture for school system requires analysis of the democratization process of the Brazilian State. This paper focuses on three aspects: 1) the change in state policy related to inclusion of blacks, native population, and poor people; 2) the impact of these actions in the academic debate; 3) the role of black social movement in this process. The research fieldwork gathers the legislation that have changed the normative field in relation to the ethnic and racial issues after the Constitution of 1988; collects official data on the expansion of blacks, natives and poor people to public high education; and review the literature on racial affirmative action and black social movements producing a typology of the arguments.