Vânia Penha-Lopes is professor of sociology at Bloomfield College.

• ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Why Brazil Matters: Race as a MirrorChapter 1. History in the Making: The Implementation of Affirmative Action in Brazil Chapter 2: The Students Chapter 3: University Quotas and Racial Identity Chapter 4. Attitudes about the Quotas Policies Chapter 5. An Overview of the Performance of Quota Students at Brazilian Universities Conclusion: The Future of Affirmative Action in Brazil ReferencesAbout the Author

Vânia Penha-Lopes uses original interview material, administrative university data, and a wide range of academic research and media sources to provide a detailed picture of what affirmative action looks like in Brazil, the meanings it acquires to different local actors, and the consequences of the policies to the policy’s beneficiaries, the quotistas. The most interesting material. . . offers a window into how these students understand and experience race, racism, and affirmative action. Also valuable are the book’s use of administrative data to highlight quota students’ performance at UERJ and its review of Brazilian research on quota students’ performance in Brazilian universities more broadly, organized and made accessible to an English speaking audience here for the first time.