STRUCTURAL RACISM AND QUILOMBOLAS LEGAL EXCLUSION IN AGRARIAN POLICY: A CASE STUDY OF CEDRO (GO)

Abstract

This article examines how structural racism is embedded in the legal and institutional frameworks of Brazilian agrarian policy, shaping the processes of recognition, titling, and enforcement of land rights for quilombola communities. The study adopt a qualitative, exploratory descriptive approach grounded in a bibliographic review and documentary analysis, with the Quilombola Community of Cedro, located in Mineiros, Goiás, serving as the empirical case study. The central hypothesis is that, although Brazilian law formally acknowledges quilombola’s territorial rights, persistent administrative, judicial, and political barriers continue to reproduce longstanding racial inequalities. The findings indicate that institutional delays—both administrative and judicial—constitutes significant mechanisms of exclusion, particularly when aligned with economic interests tied to agribusiness expansion. The article concludes that the realization of quilombolas rights depends not only on normative frameworks but also on confronting the structural foundations that sustain institutional racism in rural areas in Brazil.