BLACK STUDENTS IN THE PUBLIC UNIVERSITY: TENSIONS AND CHALLENGES IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Inserted in the context of transformation of Brazilian universities engendered by the policies of access and permanence in higher education implemented during the last decades, this study discusses the meanings on the university experience produced by undergraduate black students from public schools and from social movements of rural workers. The information was produced through dialogue circles and through texts written by students who participated of reading and writing workshops held at two Brazilian federal universities. The statements and texts were analyzed through Bakhtin's dialogical perspective, enabling the recognition of the ideological challenges faced by students, such as the use of academic language, identity issues, political clashes and curricular limitations. The results also discuss possibilities of questioning monological discourses that prevail in the university context.