Rewriting the African Diaspora in the Caribbean and Latin America: beyond disciplinary and national boundaries

Abstract

Similar to the black subjectivity dilemmas discussed by W.E.B. Du Bois and Ralph Ellison in the US context, Afro-Latin Americans are caught between the paradoxical tensions of hyper-visibility and invisibility. In the imagined community narratives of Latin America, the presence of Afro-Latin Americans and their societal contributions are rendered invisible in the name of national unity. This article begins by exploring how the colonial imagined communities in the region erased Afro-Latinos. As Latin America achieved independence in the nineteenth century, color-blind nationalism functioned to differentiate Latin American identity from explicitly racialized North American identity. In contrast, Latin American Blacks have been hyper-visible subjects for North American social scientists for more than a century. Utilizing extensive archives of colonial documents, the Afro-Latin American subject emerged as a key research site to examine socio-cultural change. Over time, different disciplines took turns leading the debate, illuminating the significant Afro-Latino impact on national formations and cultural practices. These contradictory genealogies frame the diverse discussions gathered in this special issue on Afro-Latin America. The collection illuminates many of the themes, countries of focus, and theoretical approaches emerging in contemporary Afro-Latino studies. As a result, social scientists, including those represented here, are actively rewriting some of the foundational assumptions about the Afro-Latino subject.