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by Arlene Torres (Editor), Norman E. Jr. Whitten (Editor)
If we are to understand the meanings of "blackness" in the African diaspora and elsewhere, we must critically examine the paradigms that have emerged from Euro-American racism and black liberation over the past five centuries. So argue the editors of these foundational volumes, which add immeasurably to our understanding of black experiences in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.
In their introduction to this extensive collection, the editors discuss historical forces and provide a critical, interpretive theory of structures of domination and processes of liberation in the Black Americas. By dealing with racialist concepts from the dual standpoints of nation-state and ethnic bloc, they clarify many issues of cultural representation and social identity in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Author Biography
Arlene Torres is Assistant Professor of Anthropology. She is affiliated with Afro-American Studies, Latin American and Caribbean Studies and the Latina/Latino Studies Programs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She serves on the editorial board of the Afro-Latin American Research Association. Torres has conducted extensive field research in Puerto Rico and Barbados.
Norman E. Whitten, Jr. is Professor of Anthropology and Latin American Studies and Affiliate of Afro-American Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His publications include Black Frontiersmen: Afro-American Culture of Ecuador and Colombia; Sacha Runa: Ethnicity and Adaptation of Ecuadorian Jungle Quichua; Cultural Transformations and Ethnicity in Modern Ecuador; and Sicuanga Runa: The Other Side of Development in Amazonian Ecuador.
