Abstract
This paper presents an account, or testimony, of the trajectory of a project developed by a team of researchers associated with the Research Laboratory on Ethnicity, Culture and Development/Department of Anthropology/National Museum-Federal University of Rio de Janeiro that promoted affirmative action policies for access, retention and educational success of indigenous students in higher education in the first decade of the twenty-first century. The Laced/MN-UFRJ team conceived these efforts in dialogue with anthropology, based on a perception that it was carrying out this project in an institution of higher education focused on research and graduate studies. The paper seeks to recover and document the conditions that made this intervention possible. Funded by the Ford Foundation and building on the struggles of black movement organizations for affirmative action in higher education, these actions were based on the perception that demands for land and sustainability are essential for Indigenous Peoples. The paper describes how the Laced team helped universities to develop affirmative action policies for indigenous peoples, how these actions were disseminated and debated, how government policies were developed to sustain affirmative action in the long term, as well as what knowledge and documents were generated by this process.
Keywords:
indigenous peoples; affirmative action; higher education; Ford Foundation