Chapter 9: Nós por nós (Us For Us): Black Brazilian University Students and Social Capital

The face of students attending higher education is rapidly changing as access to institutions has increased all over the world (Altbach, 2010). Research aptly shows that the massification of post-secondary systems brings with it the necessity to cater to diverse populations who have varying needs and may require support that differs from traditional attendees (Delgado Bernal, 2002; Heringer, 2013; Penha-Lopes, 2008; Perna, 2007; Schwartzman, 2008, 2009; Trow, 1973). Despite global expansion and internationalization of higher education, it is still an elite system that reproduces challenges for students from marginalized or underrepresented segments of society (Schwartzman, 2004). Brazil in particular is characterized by its extreme exclusion of Black, Brown, and Indigenous¹ students and a more recent use of affirmative action to increase access to these populations (Heringer, 2015). Despite the uptick in the number of underrepresented students, there is room for improvement especially because African descendants make up 50.7% of the population (IBGE, 2010). As such, students feel unsupported, distanced from white students in terms of knowledge and understanding of the post-secondary environment, and left to their own devices to gain information and pass it along to each other.