Black and Hispanic: The Racial Identification of Afro-Cuban Immigrants in the SouthwestDrawing on interviews with forty-five Afro-Cubans, exploring the ways in which racial and ethnic identities are formed in dialogue with both self-appraisal and external classification from others. Findings reveal the complicated identification processes involved as Afro-Cubans attempt to maintain identification as both Cuban and Black in the face of external classification as either Black or Hispanic.
The global history of Latin AmericaThis article explains why historians of Latin America have been disinclined to engage with global history, and how global history has yet to successfully integrate Latin America into its debates. It suggests that both global history and Latin American history will benefit from recognition of the existing work that has pioneered a path between the two, and from enhanced and sustained dialogue.
New roots/Nuevas Raices: stories from Carolina del NorteThe New Roots Latino Oral History Initiative at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill documents migrant stories and is one of the largest repositories of interviews related to new Latino migrant destinations in the South; the repository holds more than 160 recorded interviews and transcripts, in both English and Spanish. These stories take us from deep suffering to acts of courage and resilience, and from discrimination to acceptance in a new home.
Where Is the Geography? The Geographical Predicaments of the Panethnic Terms Hispanic and LatinoIn this article I outline the geographical and political problems associated with the terms Hispanic and Latino. To this end, I offer a four-tiered framework to help address these problems. Ultimately, I illustrate how these terms stem from (mis)perceptions deeply ingrained in academic and political imageries of Latin American populations. I discuss how these panethnic terms relate to a geographical predicament, and claim that their myopic perception in the academy feeds itself as much as it feeds U.S. policies. A plea is made here for the demythologization of a continent that is viewed as exclusively Spanish-speaking with an exclusive colonial heritage tied to Spain. My goal is to show how these views have continued to perpetuate powerful, intuitive yet deceptive representations of Latin America. I conclude that it behooves geographers and scholars to re-think, contest, and ultimately revise the interpretation and navigation of the terms Hispanic/Latino as they have been taken for granted.