Affirmative Action in Higher Education

For centuries people around the globe have beensubject to unequal treatment and discriminationbecause of their sex race skin color ethnicity ornational origin. The second half of the twentiethcentury however has seen an increase in efforts tocombat such inequalities via antidiscriminatory legalaction and public politics of inclusion. Brazil hasonly recently joined the list of nations that haveimplemented affirmative action policies. After aperiod of military governance that ended in 1985efforts to acknowledge and combat racism andinequality as part of the process of democratizationare still at an early stage. In the United States bycontrast African Americans have benefitted from theachievements of the civil rights movement. Howeverthough the development of an African American middleclass is widely acknowledged North American Blacksremain disproportionately represented among theeconomically and socially disadvantaged. This bookoffers an insight on the history of affirmativeaction in Brazil and in the United States andcompares the debates about policies of inclusion atBrazilian and American universities and colleges.