HETEROIDENTIFICATION AND RACIAL JUSTICE: CHALLENGES OF THE PHENOTYPIC CRITERION IN THE CONTEXT OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

Abstract

This article aims to critically analyze the challenges and limitations of the phenotypic criterion within racial hetero-identification commissions, understood as fundamental institutional instruments for the effectiveness of affirmative action policies in Brazil. The analysis begins with the historicity of racial inequalities, highlighting how the processes of colonization and slavery structured social hierarchies based on skin color, whose effects persist in education, the labor market, and the distribution of rights. In this context, the article discusses racial self-declaration as an initial criterion for quota policies and its limitations in the face of fraud, which spurred the institutionalization of hetero-identification commissions as a complementary mechanism for control, legitimacy, and racial justice. Although phenotype is central because it expresses the concrete way in which racism operates in Brazilian society, its application presents significant challenges, especially in so-called borderline cases and in contexts marked by regional and sociocultural variations. This study also seeks to understand the functioning and criteria adopted by these commissions, to reflect on racial identity as a historically situated social construct, and to discuss methodological and formative alternatives capable of providing greater consistency, decisional security, and equity to the implementation of affirmative action policies. It concludes that improving hetero-identification commissions depends on the racial literacy of their members, ongoing training, and contextualized analysis of local realities—essential elements for ensuring legitimate decisions and strengthening the promotion of racial equality.