Boundaries, Bridges, Bodies: Afro-Latinidad and the American Color Line

Simultaneously present and erased within African-American and Latinx communities, Afro-Latinos highlight the permeable places of racial construction in the U.S. as well as the lines that cannot be crossed. The texts, The... [ view full abstract ]

Simultaneously present and erased within African-American and Latinx communities, Afro-Latinos highlight the permeable places of racial construction in the U.S. as well as the lines that cannot be crossed. The texts, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz, and Mama’s Girl, by Veronica Chambers, offer a way to examine the complicated relationship Afro-Latinxs share with Blackness, as well as the different means through which American (including Caribbean) racism informs one’s racial identity. In my senior thesis, I use these texts to explore how themes of location, body, gender, family, and trauma shape the negotiation of racial identity among Afro-Latinx communities in the U.S.