Contexts and significations of affirmative actions in the brazilian system of higher education: socio-juridical aspects and the deconstruction of the pact of silence

Abstract

The new scenario which was inaugurated with the first experiences of affirmative action policies in the Brazilian system of higher education has put forth a number of juridical disputes between the State, higher education institutions and individuals who felt at a loss because of such policies; in addition, it placed in the center of the national agenda the possibility of a revision of the democraticliberal principles and the mechanisms of social justice used in the country. With this in sight, we carried out research aimed at offeringa sociological analysis of the repercussions, in the Brazilian juridical field, by the adoption of Affirmative Actions in higher education geared mainly towards the black population. Our aim was to we become aware of the representations of the society which are present in the discourses and the positioning of the Judiciary Power and of part of the students who sought the justice system to fight these measures. The primary sources of research were the resolutions made available in the sites of the Regional and State Justice Tribunals, legal instruments and some interviews. The defense of race-mixing as a founding element of equality among subjects and the value ofindividual merit are some of the points which characterize these discourses analyzed in this article.