Aspects of Afro-Brazilian Experience

Elisa Larkin Nascimento

Journal of Black Studies · 1980 · 10 citations · 1 references

Concepts

Abstract

It is fitting that two of the essays in this issue, Abdias do Nascimento's and Rodrigues Alves's, were originally presented to the First and Second Congresses of Black Culture in the Americas (Cali, Colombia, August 1977, and Panama, March 1980). These two events reflect a current phenomenon of vital, if underestimated, importance to the African world: emerging assertion of African political consciousness among Black people in so-called Latin America. To date, this area has been unduly marginalized or omitted from global discussions of Pan-Africanism or the African world. The so-called African triangle has involved only the United States and West Indies, continental Africa (Anglophone and Francophone) and Africans in Europe. There are many reasons for such minimization of the role of Afro-Latin Americans in African affairs; one of the most important is the language barrier. Information exchange has had to be filtered through translation channels, usually controlled by white dominant societies. Ruling strata in Latin America vigorously suppress all manifestations of Black political activity, and its extent is therefore severely under-

References

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