Being and Blackness in Latin America

Confronting cultural stereotypes about what it means to be Black in the Americas, Fox examines the dynamics of race by analyzing a wealth of popular and canonical texts from Latin America, in both Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries. She constructs an alternative to traditional slavery-based definitions, arguing that Blackness can be characterized by the condition of physical uprootedness, an experience that acts as an impetus to artistic expression. Her provocative discussion applies literary and social theory to prose, poetry, film, and theater, including oral and musical forms as expressed in folklore and religion. Through careful clarification of terms and ample and illuminating examples, she paints a vision of Blackness that embodies strategic potential and embraces improvisation. Her far-ranging perspective includes comparisons with Eastern European responses to totalitarian governments as expressed in the work of Hungarian writer Gyorgy Konrad. Fox positions her topic in the ongoing circum-Atlantic conversation about Latin American Blackness. She examines the work of transculturalist Sylvia Wynter and such well-established Afro-Hispanists and Afro-Brazilianists as Marvin A. Lewis, Miriam DeCosta-Willis, and Richard L. Jackson. At the same time, she explores the limitations of the arguments of well-known thinkers, including Antonio Benitez-Rojo and Paul Gilroy. The translations from Spanish and Portuguese make available for the first time a body of material that will enrich any examination of the African diaspora.

Patricia D. Fox, assistant professor of Spanish at the University of Missouri, Columbia, is the author of several articles and book chapters on Latin American and Caribbean cultural production.