<i>Más que Esclavos</i>: A BlackCrit examination of the treatment of Afro-Latin@s in U.S. high school world history textbooks

Abstract

Drawing from Black Critical Theory (BlackCrit) as a theoretical framework, this study examined how Afro-Latin@s are represented in U.S. world history textbooks alongside global narratives of race and anti-Black systemic racism that are fundamental to understanding Afro-Latin@s’ historical and contemporary lived experiences. Research findings revealed that world history textbooks confine Afro-Latin@s’ lived experiences and histories within two reductionist narratives: enslavement and mestizaje (race mixing). I argue that these representations perpetuate violence against Black bodies by reducing Afro-Latin@s to passive historical agents. Furthermore, Afro-Latin@ identities are circumscribed to fit within the neoliberal socio-political narrative of Latin America as a racial paradise.