Banca de DEFESA: DOUGLAS RIBEIRO DE MOURA

Uma banca de DEFESA de DOUTORADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : DOUGLAS RIBEIRO DE MOURA
DATE: 04/08/2025
TIME: 14:00
LOCAL: Sala de Reuniões do Prédio Administrativo do CEFET-MG Campus I
TITLE:

Racial self-identification from a discursive-argumentative perspective: the defense of the individuals accused of fraud regarding the use of racial quotas at UFMG

KEY WORDS:

Discourse analysis. Argumentation and rhetoric. Semiolinguistic Theory. Sociodiscursive imaginary. Quota Law.

PAGES: 390
BIG AREA: Lingüística, Letras e Artes
AREA: Letras
SUMMARY:

Since the early 2000s, the higher education system in Brazil has been undergoing changes in its
admission processes. Just over a decade ago, The Quota Law (Law No. 12,711, of August 28,
2012) was enacted. It was later complemented by Law No. 13,409, of December 28, 2016, and
updated by Law No. 14,723, of November 13, 2023. This law set standard quotas for federal
public universities in Brazil (Brazil, 2012a, 2016, 2023). This public policy generated intense
debates in Brazilian society and promoted discussions on the racial categories of our country,
as well as on the criteria of each of them. For a while now, this has been the object of study in
several areas of knowledge, including the discursive studies. In our work, we connected
discourse analysis, argumentation, rhetoric, and social formation to gauge how the students who
enrolled in Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) through racial quotas (for brown and
black people) defended themselves from the fraud accusations in the first investigative process
opened by the university, in 2017. Our general objective was to identify and analyze the
argumentative strategies used by the students who joined the aforementioned University
through racial quotas when they explained how they belong to the Black people community.
For the specific objectives, we aimed to: i) carry out a survey of the arguments stated by the
students on Investigative Process No. 23072.031734/2017-49; ii) analyze the socio-discursive
values and imaginaries found in the hearings granted by the accused; and iii) verify how
discussions about identity and racial belonging can dialogue with the argumentative analysis.
We begin with the hypothesis that, given the production context of these discourses, the
arguments rely on rhetorical strategies (especially ethos and pathos) and on sociodiscursive
imaginaries related to Black identity, such as heritage and miscegenation. These elements also
reflect foundational narratives in Brazilian society, like the myth of racial democracy and the
idea that pardos and mestizos (mixed race) are the same (Orlandi, 1993). To confirm or not the
hypothesis that these individuals have a peculiar rhetoric, we used the Semiolinguistic Theory
of Discourse, by Patrick Charaudeau (2005, 2012, 2017), and the argumentative analysis, by
Ruth Amossy (2007, 2011, 2016, 2018). Methodologically, the study was divided into three
stages: i) selection and reading the corpus; ii) pre-analysis of recurrences in 39 (thirty-nine)
interrogations; and iii) in-depth qualitative analysis of 10 (ten) hearings, chosen for their
relevance to the ethnic-racial theme and in order to avoid data saturation. The research strictly
respected the ethical principles, ensuring the participants remained anonymous. The results of
our analyzes confirm the hypotheses. When considering argumentative regularities, we validate
that there is in fact a peculiar rhetoric to individuals who declared themselves black, but who
were not perceived as such by other members of the academic community. We believe that the
research achieved its objectives: based on the analysis of the 10 (ten) definitive hearings, it was
possible to map discursive regularities that reveal the predominance of the argumentative mode
of organization, in articulation with the enunciative, descriptive and narrative modes. The use
of rhetorical evidence, pathemic effects and pragmatic explanation reasoning were highlighted,
anchored in the knowledge and beliefs of personal experiences and opinions. The most recurrent
modes of chaining were consequential, which demonstrates the attempt of the interviewees to
build logics of belonging from concrete experiences. All the discourses analyzed presented an
argumentative aim, in the terms of Amossy (2011, 2018), which reinforces the strategic
character of the justifications facing the fraud accusation and the challenge of legitimizing racial
self-declaration. In addition, the discourses also emphasized key sociodiscursive imaginaries of
racial identity in Brazil, like miscegenation, heritage, and socioeconomic vulnerability,
invoking foundational narratives that legitimize Black identity through family ties and
exclusion experiences, going beyond the whistleblowers’ narrow focus on physical appearance.
We also observed a very significant fact: the myth of racial democracy did not come up as a
defense strategy in the analyzed discourses, suggesting a shift in how its truth and relevance are
now perceived. With the results found and the adoption of the phenotypic criterion in the Race
Identification Boards established by UFMG since 2019, we believe that there needs to be a
broader disclosure of how these boards and the fraud investigations work. We also suggest new
research that can verify if the results have changed over the past years.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Presidente - CLAUDIO HUMBERTO LESSA
Interna - MARIANA JAFET CESTARI
Externo à Instituição - WILLIAM AUGUSTO MENEZES
Externa à Instituição - MAYSA DE PADUA TEIXEIRA PAULINELLI
Externa à Instituição - MAIRA GUIMARÃES