AÇÕES AFIRMATIVAS NA EDUCAÇÃO SUPERIOR: ANÁLISE DE SIGNIFICADOS DE POLÍTICAS E AÇÕES INSTITUCIONAIS PARA ACESSO DO ESTUDANTE AUTODECLARADO NEGRO NOS CURSOS DE MEDICINA E LICENCIATURA EM MATEMÁTICA NA UFMA

Abstract

This research deals with affirmative actions as compensatory and reparative public policies for social injustice in the inclusion of black population in Higher Education. It aims to analyze the form of expression of the affirmative action policies of the Law No. 12.711 / 2012 on the normative basis, strategies and programs developed at The Federal University of Maranhão (UFMA) and their meanings for self-declared black students in the undergraduate courses of Medicine and Mathematics. It is part of the line of research History, Educational Policies, Work and Human Training of the Graduate Program in Education / UFMA. It uses the descriptive- analytical modality, using bibliographic and documentary research, online questionnaire and quantitative and qualitative analysis. It starts from the assumption that the formalization of affirmative action policies results from social struggles and international agreements, justified by the history of racism in Brazilian society and the social exclusion of black people and requiring State action to reduce social inequalities. The study recognizes that the Law No. 12.711 / 2012 contributes to a new social composition of Higher Education with the inclusion of representativeness of social categories, previously not visible in some courses with high professional prestige and salaries or symbolically valued. In the bibliographic and documentary research, several sources were used, among them: local research, articles from different journals published on the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SCIELO); theses and dissertations from the Capes portal, current legislation and database available in the Integrated System of Academic Activities Management (SIGAA) and in the National Institute of Educational Studies and Research (INEP). The analyses were influenced by the thought of Gentili (2009), Lindgren (2002) Romanelli (1997), Ghiraldelli Jr (2001), Nagle (2001), Saviani (2007), Heringer (1999), Gomes (2008 -2010), Netto (1998), Moehlecke (2002), Fávero (2006), Dias Sobrinho (2005/2010), Piovesan (2008), Sguissardi (2006), among others. The locus of the research is the Federal University of Maranhão with a focus on two undergraduate courses - Medicine and Mathematics Degree, selecting black quota self-declared students entering in 2013 as informants. Based on this study, we can say affirmative action policies in the Institution follow the national movement of the normative basis and official programs, not perceiving an innovative appropriation, considering local specificities, and are presented as positive for favoring inclusion the representativeness of vulnerable social categories in undergraduate courses of greater professional prestige in social hierarchies. However, there is a differentiation of income and family cultural capital in the social composition of students of Medicine and Mathematics with implications for the academic trajectory (entry, retention, dropout – evasion and/or refusal of enrollment, course conclusion) and in the access to assistance and permanence programs. Finally, it is agreed with the defending authors that affirmative action policies will have meaning if they are accompanied by other social policies.