Entre a conquista do acesso, a permanência e o direito de pertencer: uma análise das produções da categoria profissional sobre a assistência estudantil e a questão étnico-racial na universidade pública

Abstract

This study aims to analyze what the professional category has produced over the last five years regarding student assistance from the perspective of the permanence and sense of belonging of Black students in public universities, considering the ethnic-racial issue. To this end, papers published in the proceedings of the Brazilian Congress of Social Workers (CBAS), the National Meeting of Researchers in Social Work (ENPESS), and the International Seminar of the School of Social Work at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (SEMINTSS) were analyzed. The research is based on the understanding that, although affirmative action policies have expanded access to higher education for Black students, admission alone does not guarantee either their permanence or their sense of belonging within public universities. In this context, the study seeks to understand how Social Work publications discuss student assistance beyond the provision of benefits established by the National Student Assistance Program (PNAES), considering its relationship with racial inequalities, racism, and the challenges faced by Black students in remaining in this environment. The research was developed based on the historical-dialectical materialist method, through a qualitative and quantitative approach, using bibliographical and documentary research. The study is organized into three chapters: the first addresses the socio-historical construction of the slave system in Brazil and its developments; the second discusses the inclusion of the Black population in public universities, affirmative action policies, and student assistance; and the third presents the analysis of the professional category's publications on student assistance, belonging, and the permanence of Black students. Furthermore, it seeks to identify the main discussions present in these publications, the possible gaps, and to verify whether permanence is understood only in its material dimension or also in its social, historical, racial, and subjective dimensions. Thus, the study contributes to strengthening the debate on student assistance, the ethnic-racial issue, belonging, and the permanence of Black students in public universities, reaffirming the importance of understanding that the democratization of higher education requires not only access but also effective conditions for permanence and belonging.