Social psychologist Alessandro de Oliveira dos Santos works with people and communities pushed to the brink by economic, social, and environmental forces beyond their control. He taught the graduate seminar Environmental Racism and Struggles for Recognition among People of the Amazon Forest in … [Read more...]
Establishing History: The Black Diaspora Archive and the Texas Domestic Slave Trade Project
BY RACHEL E. WINSTON The vision for the Black Diaspora Archive at The University of Texas at Austin came into focus in 2013 as a collaborative project between Black Studies, LLILAS Benson, and the University of Texas Libraries. After years of continued successful collaboration, Black Studies … [Read more...]
Brazilian Roças: A Legacy in Peril
BY EDWARD SHORE Vanessa de França is a farmer and activist from São Pedro, one of 88 quilombos, rural black communities descended from fugitive slaves, that call the Atlantic forest of São Paulo state and neighboring Paraná their home. Two hundred years ago, de França’s ancestors escaped the gold … [Read more...]
Archiving Human Rights Documentation: The Promise of the Post-Custodial Approach in Latin America
BY THERESA E. POLK Guatemala’s internal armed conflict was brutal by all accounts, and justice for human rights violations has been notoriously difficult to attain in its wake. Yet there have also been some critical milestones, including convictions in 2010 for the forced disappearance of labor … [Read more...]
Transitory Ghosts: Haitians and Dominico-Haitians in Santo Domingo
STUDENT RESEARCH: CITIZENSHIP AND LIMBO IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC BY JOSÉ RUBIO-ZEPEDA “I’m a nobody in my own country.” These are the words spoken by Juliana Deguis Pierre, a Dominican woman who made national headlines in the Dominican Republic after being denied Dominican citizenship … [Read more...]
Unsettling Ideas about Africa and Blackness: Contemplating Race and Belonging in the Dominican Republic
STUDENT RESEARCH: CITIZENSHIP AND LIMBO IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC BY JHEISON ROMAIN As I neared the end of my field research in the Dominican Republic, while in a batey[1] in the north of the country, I had a conversation with a 28-year-old black man who was born and raised in the … [Read more...]
The Canary in the Mine: Anti-Black Violence and the Paradox of Brazilian Democracy
BY CHRISTEN A. SMITH The Brazilian political crisis of 2016 has sent shockwaves through the nation. Brazil’s first female president, Dilma Rousseff, has been accused of corruption and is facing impeachment proceedings. Millions of Brazilians have demonstrated in the streets against the … [Read more...]
