BY SUSANNA SHARPE An image is a bridge between evoked emotion and conscious knowledge; words are cables that hold up the bridge. —Gloria Anzaldúa, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, 1987 When Chicana author, cultural theorist, and feminist Gloria Evangelina Anzaldúa died in 2004, she … [Read more...] about Anzaldúa across Borders: A Traveling Thought Gallery
Features
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...] about Establishing History: The Black Diaspora Archive and the Texas Domestic Slave Trade Project
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...] about Brazilian Roças: A Legacy in Peril
Cardenal in Hard Times
BY LUIS E. CÁRCAMO-HUECHANTE Leer en español It was the winter of 1979. I was already in my fourth year of high school in Valdivia, in southern Chile, when my literature teacher surprised my class by bringing in a record player. As she turned it on, a singular voice came out, with an accent … [Read more...] about Cardenal in Hard Times
Mexico in Times of Violence and Impunity: Legal and Forensic Anthropology in Support of Human Rights
BY AÍDA HERNÁNDEZ CASTILLO Leer en español Mexico is engulfed in a human rights crisis. The current atmosphere of violence and impunity implies new challenges for social anthropology and, more specifically, legal anthropology. Long-term fieldwork in regions affected by violence involves … [Read more...] about Mexico in Times of Violence and Impunity: Legal and Forensic Anthropology in Support of Human Rights
Poverty Tourism: From 18th-Century London to 21st-Century Rio de Janeiro
BY BIANCA FREIRE-MEDEIROS July 31, 2015. O Dia, one of Brazil’s major newspapers, announces that residents from three favelas in Rio de Janeiro are offering a package of “tourism experiences” for visitors interested in an authentic “cultural exchange”: the Favelando entre as Favelas tour. The … [Read more...] about Poverty Tourism: From 18th-Century London to 21st-Century Rio de Janeiro
Reading the First Books: Colonial Mexican Documents in the Digital Age
BY HANNAH ALPERT-ABRAMS AND MARIA VICTORIA FERNANDEZ In 1595, in Mexico City, the Jesuit priest Antonio del Rincón (1555–1601) published a grammatical description of the Nahuatl language. Though other grammars of Nahuatl existed, Rincón’s Arte mexicana was the first to describe the indigenous … [Read more...] about Reading the First Books: Colonial Mexican Documents in the Digital Age
Love, Cacao, and Chocolate’s Mesoamerican Origins
By PILAR ZAZUETA No other Western holiday is more closely identified with chocolate than Valentine’s Day. The seasonal aisles in stores and supermarkets are filled with chocolate, and food companies spend vast sums of advertising dollars trying to persuade us to celebrate by consuming it in large … [Read more...] about Love, Cacao, and Chocolate’s Mesoamerican Origins
“We Will All Look Like This Someday”: Santa Muerte in Mexico City
BY KATHRYN McDONALD Over the past decade, La Santa Muerte, an unofficial Mexican skeletal saint, has prompted the curiosity of journalists, law enforcement, and popular culture in the United States and Mexico. The dramatic cover of journalist Michael Deibert’s book, In the Shadow of … [Read more...] about “We Will All Look Like This Someday”: Santa Muerte in Mexico City
Rethinking Maya Studies: A Conversation with Ruud van Akkeren
BY SUSANNA SHARPE It is hard not to feel moved when talking to Ruud van Akkeren about his research. In such a conversation, it quickly becomes clear that Van Akkeren has his own nuanced, and possibly revolutionary, way of understanding Maya past and present in Guatemala, and that he doesn’t … [Read more...] about Rethinking Maya Studies: A Conversation with Ruud van Akkeren
