Cultural Pluralism, Alterity, and Equity: Affirmative Action's Challenges

Sponsored by The Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education (SCOPE) and The Research Institute of Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (RICSRE)

As part of the 2015 RICSRE Faculty Seminar Series, Petronilha Beatriz Gonçalves e Silva spoke about the implementation of affirmative action policies in Brazil's higher education system. Professor e Silvathe elaborated on the role of movements—the Black Movement, the Indigenous People's Movement, and the movement led by students and scholars—as well as strategies employed by the opposition. The discussion highlighted challenges in recognizing the cultural pluralism of students and reinventing models of teaching to improve equity.

Petronilha Beatriz Gonçalves e Silva is a full professor and professor emerita in Education and Racial-Ethnic Relations at the Center of Education and Human Sciences at the Federal University of São Carlos, Brazil. Professor e Silva was appointed to the National Council of Education from 2002 to 2006. During this time she played a central role in writing The National Curriculum Guidelines for the Education of Racial-Ethnic Relations and The Teaching of African and Afro-Brazilian History and Culture, which have since been implemented at all educational levels in Brazil. Professor e Silva received Brazil's Presidential National Order of Merit in 2011.

The RICSRE Faculty Seminar Series creates a monthly forum for faculty, students, and scholars to explore topics related to race and ethnicity in an interdisciplinary and comparative framework. Participation in the series is an excellent way to hear and discuss the work of a multidisciplinary group of colleagues from Stanford and other institutions. The series is open to all Stanford faculty, graduate students, and CCSRE affiliates. For more information, visit the CCSRE website.