Henry Louis Gates and Black in Latin America: A Review
posted by Taunya Banks
Harvard Professor Henry Louis, perhaps best known to most Americans for his run-in with a Cambridge Police Officer, than for his scholarly writings and academic entrepreneurship, is back on public television. His television series is entitled Black in Latin America. The name of the series is somewhat misleading since three of the countries he visits are on islands in the Caribbean, and a fourth, Mexico, also is not located on the Latin America continent. Nevertheless, the series promised to be eye opening. As one reviewer wrote, “When most U.S. citizens think of a Latino, they rarely picture someone black. This series broadens our understanding of the very complex identity of people from Spanish-speaking countries, an identity that is usually oversimplified into misleading racial stereotypes in the U.S. media.” But here again, characterizing the series as about Spanish-speaking “Latinos” also is misleading since the series includes Brazil where the national language is a form of Portuguese and Haiti whose national language is a form of French. So you are getting some idea of this subject’s complexity.
David Eltis and David Richardson in their wonderful book, Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade (Yale Univ. Press 2010), map this trade in human chattel that lasted for 366 years “and resulted in the forced deportation of 12.5 million Africans to the New World.” Black in Latin American briefly looks at the status of these unfortunate humans and their descendants now scattered throughout the islands and the Americas. There is, however, no mention of Central America where the Atlantic slave trade also distributed West Africans. But this omission is not a criticism, the topic is simply huge.
The Atlantic region includes countries whose history of slavery pre-dates the U.S., and where slavery persisted in some places until the end of the nineteenth century. Race in the Americas, especially Brazil and Cuba, is a topic that has long excited a small group of anthropologists, historians and sociologists. Today, however, “Latin American” notions of race have more meaning to Americans because of our growing Hispanic, primarily Latino population, which on the surface celebrates its mestizaje (mixed racial culture) while papering over the racialized divisions within and among each community. Latin America is a region, like the U.S., that, as a result of the slave trade, is equally bedeviled by race.
Over the years I’ve visited and studied about the construction of race in Cuba, Brazil and Mexico. A few years back I even wrote an essay about Afro-Mexicans and Mexico’s hidden third root, its African heritage. By looking at laws in Mexico during the seventeen, eighteen and early nineteenth century, the presence of Africans and their descendants is apparent. Thus, I eagerly looked forward to this series. Read the rest of this post »
May 11, 2011 at 8:05 pm
Tags: Current Events, Race
Posted in: Culture, Current Events
Print This Post
4 Comments
(A few reasons) why Angela Onwuachi-Willig should be appointed to the Iowa Supreme Court
posted by Kaimipono D. Wenger
Various law blogs have mentioned the news that University of Iowa law professor Angela Onwuachi-Willig is on the short list for the Iowa Supreme Court.
Angela is a leading scholar on topics of racial justice and critical race theory. She is the only woman on the shortlist, as well as the only person of color.
In addition, Angela is a longstanding supporter of LGBT rights who has written eloquently in favor of marriage equality and who signed a brief supporting marriage equality in Varnum v. Brien.
Given the backdrop of the current Iowa vacancies — they are the direct result of a homophobic right-wing smear campaign — I am thrilled to see Angela’s name on the shortlist. I can think of no better way to respond to the anti-gay hate machine than to fill a court vacancy with a smart, articulate, energetic Black woman who is committed to LGBT rights — and to a principled and progressive feminist and antiracist legal philosophy as well.
January 31, 2011 at 4:24 pm
Tags: Courts, LGBT, Race
Posted in: Courts, Current Events, LGBT, Race
Print This Post
7 Comments
You’ve lost that Loving feeling
posted by Kaimipono D. Wenger
An incredible story in today’s news:
A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have. Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.
“I’m not a racist. I just don’t believe in mixing the races that way,” Bardwell told the Associated Press on Thursday. “I have piles and piles of black friends. They come to my home, I marry them, they use my bathroom. I treat them just like everyone else.”
Bardwell said he asks everyone who calls about marriage if they are a mixed race couple. If they are, he does not marry them, he said.
It’s 2009, the Obama era, and some folks (a JP!) still haven’t gotten the memo on Loving v. Virginia. Mind-boggling.
October 15, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Tags: Civil Rights, Loving v. Virginia, marriage, Race
Posted in: Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Family Law
Print This Post
One Comment
Knowledge of Jim Crow events: A quick, informal survey
posted by Kaimipono D. Wenger
I’m curious as to what level of knowledge people have of some important Jim Crow events. If you’ve got five minutes, please make a comment, to fill this out this brief, completely unscientific survey. Feel free to do so anonymously or pseudonymously. I’m not trying to embarrass anyone, I just wonder to what extent certain events are known or unknown, and this is enough to give me some general sense. Read the rest of this post »
May 18, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Tags: Civil Rights, jim crow, Race, survey
Posted in: Civil Rights, Race
Print This Post
38 Comments
