Constructing Black Selves: Caribbean American Narratives and the Second Generation (review)
motion of quotas and affirmative action programs in higher education and government hiring in order to offset profound social and racial inequalities. Readers interested in the politics of race surrounding university admissions quotas in Brazil will want to turn directly to some of the most influential recent Brazilian publications: Moema de Poli Teixeira, Negros na universidade: Identidade e trajetorias de ascencao social no Rio de Janeiro (Pallas, 2003); Jose Jorge de Carvalho, Inclusao etnica e racial no Brasil: A Questao das cotas no ensino superior (Attar, 2006); Peter Fry, A persistencia da raca: Ensaios antropologicos sobre o Brasil e a Africa (Civilizacao Brasileira, 2005); and Nilma Lino Gomes and Aracy Alves Martins, eds., Afirmando direitos: Acesso e permanencia dejovens na universidade (Autentica, 2004). Teixeira examines the experiences with university studies and identity of students of color admitted to Rio de Janeiro universities both inside of and outside admissions quotas. Carvalho argues in favor of quotas and discusses the patterns of racial exclusion in Brazilian higher education; he was one of the creators of the quota program at the University of Brasilia. Fry draws on his experiences in Brazil and southern Africa to describe what he perceives as the social costs of state projects defining racial difference. Gomes and Martins bring together a set of essays that cover the spectrum of debates over the use of quotas and affirmative action, and center on the debate around the implementation of these programs in Minas Gerais.