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.

American Journal of Sociology

This book remains an important and useful reference for students and researchers who aim to achieve a comprehensive overview of race relations and affirmative action in Brazil.

Journal of Latin American Studies

Confronting Affirmative Action in Brazil is a masterful examination of social processes surrounding affirmative action in Brazil as they have unfolded on the ground and in real time...Penha-Lopes’ study will be an invaluable resource for English readers, particularly comparative race scholars who focus on the Americas with an interest in race relations in Brazil and the United States.

G. Reginald Daniel, University of California, Santa Barbara

Vânia Penha-Lopes’s book is a path-breaking analysis of contemporary affirmative action programs in Brazilian universities. Written in a clear, accessible style, Dr. Penha-Lopes focuses on a recent cohort of graduates of one of these programs. She analyzes these students’ lived experiences as well as their attitudes towards the programs and concludes that, contrary to the expectations of some of the program’s detractors, these “quota students,” for the most part, have done as well academically as their non-quota peers.

Maxine L. Margolis, Professor Emerita of Anthropology, University of Florida

Confronting Affirmative Action in Brazil is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding how race is constructed and experienced in Brazil and how endemic racism is currently being challenged.

James N. Green, Brown University

It is impossible to recount here the diversity of the interviewees’ perspectives, but reading their words is a breath of fresh air after engaging mainly with statistics and ideological position taking. For this reason alone, the book is worth exploring.

Latin American Research Review