Anais
Resumo do trabalho
Métodos e Técnicas de Pesquisa em Administração · Formação do Professor e Pesquisador
Título
Vultures Among the Sunflowers: The Racial Question in the Brazilian Graduate Education System
Palavras-chave
Racism
Graduate education
Diversity
Agradecimento:
Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio de Janeiro - IFRJ
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES
Autores
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Humberto Reis dos Santos SouzaINSTITUTO FEDERAL DE EDUCAÇÃO, CIÊNCIA E TECNOLOGIA DO RIO DE JANEIRO (IFRJ)
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Pedro Jaime Coelho JúniorCentro Universitário da FEI-SP
Resumo
Introdução
The Brazilian graduate education system, a pillar of the nation's scientific production, is regulated by CAPES, a powerful federal agency. This system, however, reflects Brazil's profound racial inequalities, creating a paradox where a discourse of meritocratic neutrality masks a reality of structural exclusion. This study investigates this contradiction, symbolized by the title 'Vultures Among the Sunflowers,' which alludes to the hidden decay beneath an apparent harmony.
Problema de Pesquisa e Objetivo
CAPES historical failure to collect racial data on its faculty, a practice that prevents the diagnosis of and policymaking for racial inequality in a system where Black scholars are severely underrepresented. This data gap directly impacts the training of new professors, ensuring the continued underrepresentation of Black scholars and the silencing of the racial question in research. The objective is to analyze how racial dynamics structure the inequalities and institutional discourses within this key regulatory agency, questioning its purported neutrality and meritocracy.
Fundamentação Teórica
This study is grounded in a critical perspective, viewing race as a social construct and a technology of power. It employs a Foucauldian framework to analyze institutional racism, using concepts such as discourse, power-knowledge, governmentality, and interdiction. This lens allows for an examination of how CAPES's practices, including its silences, actively produce and maintain racial hierarchies under the guise of neutrality, moving beyond classic understandings of institutional racism.
Metodologia
This study employs a mixed-methods approach. The quantitative analysis examines a 15-year time series (2010-2024) of the racial composition of CAPES’s upper and middle management, using non-parametric tests (permutation, Theil-Sen, bootstrapping) to assess disparities and trends. The qualitative component consists of a Foucauldian discourse analysis of historical National Graduate Education Plans (PNPGs) and recent formal communications with the agency.
Análise dos Resultados
The results reveal a structural homology between a racially hierarchical internal structure and a discursive practice of external erasure. Quantitative analysis confirms a significant underrepresentation of Black individuals in upper management (H1) and the ineffectiveness of affirmative action policies in changing this structure (H2, H3). The qualitative analysis exposes a historical policy of silencing and contemporary discursive tactics ('counter,' 'mediator,' and 'cabinet' discourses) used to neutralize the racial question.
Conclusão
The study concludes that the mechanisms at play in CAPES constitute a 'racialized counter-bureaucracy.' This specific form of institutional and state racism operates not merely through exclusion, but through a sophisticated management of invisibility. By actively producing non-knowledge via statistical silence, the agency maintains racial hierarchies while simultaneously performing a public-facing rhetoric of diversity and inclusion, a dynamic that traditional theories do not fully capture.
Contribuição / Impacto
The primary contribution of this work is the conceptualization of 'racialized counter-bureaucracy' as a technology of power that manages invisibility through the production of non-knowledge. This provides a new analytical lens for examining organizations that pair progressive discourse with exclusionary data practices. The study underscores the material impact of statistical silence and provides a framework for holding institutions accountable for their role in perpetuating racial inequality.
Referências Bibliográficas
Foucault, M. (2014). A ordem do discurso: Aula inaugural no Collège de France, pronunciada em 2 de dezembro de 1970 (24ª ed.). Edições Loyola.
Foucault, M. (2022). Microfísica do poder (13ª ed.). Paz e Terra.
Mbembe, A. (2022). Crítica da razão negra. N-1 Edições.
Nkomo, S. M. (1992). The emperor has no clothes: Rewriting “race in organizations”. Academy of Management Review, 17(3), 487–513.
Paixão, M. (2025). The Spirit of the Brazilian Racial Developmentalism. Brazilian Journal of Sociology, 13.
Souza, J. (2021). Como o racismo criou o Brasil. Estação Brasil.
Foucault, M. (2022). Microfísica do poder (13ª ed.). Paz e Terra.
Mbembe, A. (2022). Crítica da razão negra. N-1 Edições.
Nkomo, S. M. (1992). The emperor has no clothes: Rewriting “race in organizations”. Academy of Management Review, 17(3), 487–513.
Paixão, M. (2025). The Spirit of the Brazilian Racial Developmentalism. Brazilian Journal of Sociology, 13.
Souza, J. (2021). Como o racismo criou o Brasil. Estação Brasil.