Race in Latin America
R. Sánchez-Rivera
This session seeks to explore the historical construction and categorization of “race” in Latin America as a way of highlighting its impact today. Decolonial Theorists have highlighted the creation of modernity and Eurocentrism in relation to the colonial “Other” in the Americas. They argue - through Quijano’s concept “coloniality” - that epistemic hegemony is still present, from individual interactions to structural dynamics of power. The purpose of this lecture will be to move across time through the historical context of Columbian contact and beyond into the turn of the 21st century. This will allow us to discuss the ways in which the formation and formulation of “race” shift and take shape in and across the region.
Readings
- Wade, P. (2010). Race and ethnicity in Latin America. London: Pluto. (Chapter 2: Black and Indigenous People in Latin America, p. 24-40)
- Miller, M.G. (2004). Rise and fall of the cosmic race: the cult of mestizaje in Latin America. 1st. ed., Austin: University of Texas Press. (Introduction: The Cult of Mestizaje, p. 1-26 and Chapter 1: José Vasconcelos’ About-Face on the Cosmic Race, p. 27-44)
- Dussel, E. (1993). Eurocentrism and Modernity (Introduction to the Frankfurt Lectures).
- Mignolo, W. (2007). ‘Delinking: The Rhetoric of modernity, the logic of coloniality and the grammar of de-coloniality’, Cultural Studies, 21 (2): 449-514.
- Quijano, A. (2007). Coloniality and Modernity/Rationality, Cultural Studies, 21 (2):168-178
- Espinosa Miñoso, Y. (ed.) (2022). Decolonial feminism in Abya Yala: Caribbean, Meso, and South American contributions and challenges. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield (Global critical Caribbean thought).
- Mignolo, W. and Walsh, C.E. (2018). On Decoloniality: Concepts, Analytics, Praxis. Durham: Duke University Press (On decoloniality).
- Lugones, M. (2010). ‘Toward a Decolonial Feminism’, Hypatia, 25(4), pp. 742–759.
- Gandarilla Salgado, J.G., García-Bravo, M.H. and Benzi, D. (2021). ‘Two Decades of Aníbal Quijano’s Coloniality of Power, Eurocentrism and Latin America’, Contexto int, 43(1), pp. 199–222.
- Telles, E. (2014). Pigmentocracies: ethnicity, race, and color in Latin America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
- Telles, E. and Flores, R. (2013). “Not Just Color: Whiteness, Nation, and Status in Latin America”. Hispanic American Historical Review, 93(3), pp.411–449.
- Wynter, S. (2003). “Unsettling the Coloniality of Being/Power/Truth/Freedom: Towards the Human, After Man, Its Overrepresentation--An Argument.” CR: The New Centennial Review, [online] 3(3), pp.257–337.
- Appelbaum, N.P., Macpherson, A.S. & Rosemblatt, K.A. (2003). Race and nation in modern Latin America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. (Introduction: Racial Nations, p.1-31)
