Afro-Latinidades and the Diasporic Imaginary

Abstract

In this article I will attempt to lay a different ground, in order to transcend these discursive terms in which Blacks and Latinos appear as categorically distinct ethnic and racial designations. In order to do this, I will formulate the argument of Afro-Latinidad as a historical category that can potentially challenge essentialist notions of both Blackness and Latinidad. In this register, I will discuss the specificity of Afro-Latina/o difference as a category, and how an Afro-diasporic perspective could enrich both Black Studies and Latino Studies, while drawing their points of intersection.