Between left and right: Are descendants of slaves in Brazil still Black?

Abstract

According to some social scientists, policies of affirmative action in higher education for Blacks in Brazil were only initiated in the administration of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. However, other authors claim that the Cardoso government actually “played a major role” in the discussion and implementation of these policies. They also claim that the Lula government wholeheartedly supported policies promoting racial equality, as demonstrated by the creation of the Special Secretariat for Policies to Promote Racial Equality (Secretaria Especial de Políticas de Promoção da Igualdade Racial) in his first year in office. However, this article seeks to demonstrate that the racial question and/or racial inequalities, as well as proposals to combat racism, were neither part of the neoliberal market-oriented agenda of Cardoso’s administration nor did they play a significant role in Lula’s pro-social policy administration. Despite ushering in changes in Brazilian official discourse and regulatory frameworks on race, Cardoso did not explicitly support those policies. And, notwithstanding President Lula’s verbally explicit support for such policies and the creation of Secretaria Especial de Políticas de Promoção da Igualdade Racial, he failed to implement any policy of affirmative action for Black students in Brazilian public higher education institutions.