Etnicheskiie i rasovye kategorii v perepisiakh i politika pozitivnoi diskriminatsii v Brazilii

Abstract

The article examines ethnic and racial categories of population censuses in Brazil, and discusses the manner in which they are defined, approved, and implemented in practice. It further touches on discourses arising over these categories, especially in the context of positive discrimination policies in the country. The author points to the difficulties in defining ethnic and racial categories in the situation where they are used in policy-making that targets specific strata of the population; the policy of racial quotas in Brazil’s state universities being, for instance, the case in point.