International Journal of Conflict and Violence (Jul 2011)

Affirmative Action and Ethnic Identity in Black and Indigenous Brazilian Children

  • Marcus Eugênio Oliveira Lima,
  • Dalila Xavier de França

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 5, no. 1
pp. 200 – 210

Abstract

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<p class="MsoBodyText3" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><p class="MsoBodyText3" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">Two studies of children aged between five and ten years old investigate the impact of affirmative action programmes on the ethnic identity of black and indigenous</p><p class="MsoBodyText3" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;">children in Brazil. The participants in the first study were children supported by affirmative action programmes: black Quilombola (n= 33) and indigenous&nbsp;(n= 32). Study two was carried out on black children (n= 77) not supported by affirmative action programmes. In the first study the children used nine&nbsp;different categories of skin colour to define themselves. The majority of the indigenous children defined themselves as &ldquo;morena&rdquo;, while black Quilombolas defined&nbsp;themselves as &ldquo;preto&rdquo; (dark). In the second study the children used six different colours, and dark colours were rarely used. Although the children in both&nbsp;studies liked belonging to their group, most, particularly the Quilombola children, would like to be whiter.</p></span></p>

Keywords