Brazil: An Overview of Research on Race and Ethnic Inequalities in Education

Abstract

This book chapter offers a systematic review of sociological research in Brazil on the relationship between race/ethnicity and educational inequality between 1980 and 2010, most of which is written in Portuguese. Three major research traditions are identified: (1) Charting ethnic/racial inequalities in education; (2) Race and school effectiveness and (3) Racism and discrimination in schools, with research on charting ethnic/racial inequalities and racism and discrimination in schools being the most dominant research traditions. Most of the earlier research was dedicated to describing the large ethnic/racial inequalities in education access, survival and achievement between white and non-whites and, to a lesser extent, the indigenous population. More recent research attempts to explain the ways in which schools transmit racial stereotypes through the analysis of individual life- histories, the study of teaching materials and the observation of race relations in the classroom. Researchers rely on both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies in an environment of government support for all race-related initiatives including official backing for affirmative action designed to promote African-Brazilian access to higher education.