"This paper discusses the meanings of ‘race’ in the Portuguese empire on the basis of two historical case studies. The twin processes of miscegenation, in the biologi-cal sense, and cultural intermixing has engendered intermediate strata that have long stimulated the imagination of historians. In Brazilian historiography, consid- erable emphasis has been given to the invention of the ‘mulato’, as proposed by Alencastro (2000, 345-356), and the ethnogenesis of the ‘pardo’ in Portuguese America, as described in an article by Schwartz (1996). Compared to these inter- pretations of the emergence of these intermediate categories in Portuguese Amer- ica, the two cases presented here appear to suggest a more central role for the early demographic impact of access to manumission in colonial society and the possibili- ties for social mobility among the free peoples of African descent.";
According to McPherson, Spenser has gathered a remarkable international ensemble of scholars who collectively ask what the East-West Cold War meant in Latin America
The author reflects on " how Brazil, in its initial official images, it was characterized by its singularity: A mestizo and tropical monarchy." The essay "will make use of varied and original iconographic sources and texts emblematic of the Brazilian imperial period from 1822 to 1889.";
"The state of Afro-Latin studies is reviewed, starting with questions about terminology and racial classification, then exploring issues of racism and the relation between race and class. The impact of black (and indigenous) social movements on the field of study is then examined and this raises the question of how ideologies and practices of mestizaje have changed in the wake of ethnic mobilization and challenges to nation-building narratives of mestizaje. Finally, some of the implications of the concepts of diaspora and globalization are examined in relation to approaches to black culture. Adapted from the source document." (author)
The article reviews several books about race and gender discrimination against African Americans including Afro-Latin America, 1800-2000, by George Reid Andrews, Race in Another America: The Significance of Skin Color in Brazil, by Edward E. Telles, and Afro-Cuban Religiosity, Revolution and National Identity, by Christine Ayorinde.;
Reviews two books. "Haitian-Dominican Counterpoint: Nation, Race and State on Hispaniola," by Eugenio Matibag; "The Development of Literary Blackness in the Dominican Republic," by Dawn F. Stinchcomb.;
