Abstract
In this article I analyze how the introduction of heteroidentification commitees in federal universities has provoked discussions about who is or is not entitled to benefit from affirmative action, producing racial narratives that resize the system of classification according to race/colour initially used by the State in the implementation of reparation for the black population. These narratives revolve around two emblematic figures: the “white fraudster” of quotas and the “light brown person” who is not recognized as black by committees which believe that only blacks and browns with dark skin are deserving of dedicated university places because of the prejudice that they have suffered. I do not decide who is right in this struggle, but rather show how the existence of the debate itself is an indicator of demographic and symbolic changes within universities and beyond.
Keywords:
university; racism; race/colour classification system; affirmative actions; heteroidentification committees