Comparative Racial Politics in Latin America

Latin America has a rich and complex social history marked by slavery, colonialism, dictatorships, rebellions, social movements and revolutions. Comparative Racial Politics in Latin America explores the dynamic interplay between racial politics and hegemonic power in the region. It investigates the fluid intersection of social power and racial politics and their impact on the region’s histories, politics, identities and cultures.

Organized thematically with in-depth country case studies and a historical overview of Afro-Latin politics, the volume provides a range of perspectives on Black politics and cutting-edge analyses of Afro-descendant peoples in the region. Regional coverage includes Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti and more. Topics discussed include Afro-Civil Society; antidiscrimination criminal law; legal sanctions; racial identity; racial inequality and labor markets; recent Black electoral participation; Black feminism thought and praxis; comparative Afro-women social movements; the intersection of gender, race and class, immigration and migration; and citizenship and the struggle for human rights. Recognized experts in different disciplinary fields address the depth and complexity of these issues.

Comparative Racial Politics in Latin America contributes to and builds on the study of Black politics in Latin America.

Kwame Dixon is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Howard University, who did his undergraduate work at the University of South Florida and received his Ph.D. from Clark-Atlanta University. He was awarded two Fulbright grants and has done extensive field research and lived in several Latin American countries, including Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil. He is the author of Afro-Politics and Civil Society in Salvador da Bahia (University Press of Florida, 2016) and coeditor of Comparative Perspectives on Afro Latin America (University Press of Florida, 2012). He teaches courses on International Human Rights, Latin American Politics and Comparative Racial Politics.

Ollie A. Johnson III is Chair and Associate Professor in the Department of African American Studies at Wayne State University. He is the coeditor of Race, Politics, and Education in Brazil: Affirmative Action in Higher Education (2015). He also authored Brazilian Party Politics and the Coup of 1964 and coedited Black Political Organizations in the Post-Civil Rights Era. Professor Johnson received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley. His current research focuses on African American, Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Latin American Politics.