Academic Racism, Epistemicide, and Racial Quotas

• Grant number: 24/00336-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2024
• End date: February 28, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Philosophy - Ethics
• Principal Investigator: Yara Adario Frateschi
• Grantee: Kezzy Dias Alves dos Santos
• Host Institution: Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas (IFCH). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The present research aims to contribute to an understanding of the interconnections between the concepts of academic racism, as proposed by Sá Moreira, and epistemicide, as elaborated by Sueli Carneiro, along with the policy of racial quotas. The goal is to investigate how these elements interweave and influence the exclusion and delegitimization of Black individuals as legitimate subjects of knowledge. For this purpose, the hypothesis to be investigated is that academic racism can be considered an effect of epistemicide.Our analysis will focus on the effects of epistemicide at the higher education level, as it operates across all levels of education, while academic racism is confined to the university. Additionally, we will conduct a data survey analysis aiming to identify possible indicators of the persistence of academic racism and, therefore, epistemicide, even after the implementation of racial quotas. These surveys will encompass academic productions on blackness in postgraduate studies and the presence of black students in universities.In the third part of the project, we explore José Jorge de Carvalho's proposal of racial quotas as a possible effective response to academic racism, especially when expanded. From this perspective, our analysis aims to assess the effectiveness of racial quotas in universities, linking them to affirmative and transformative strategies. We intend to explore how racial quotas address potential challenges associated with academic racism and epistemicide.