AfroLatinidades

Exploring intersections of hemispheric Blackness and Latin American cultures at Baruch College supported by BRESI at CUNY.

DJ Moya
DJ Moya
Students at an event
Students at an event
Student and Professor at event
Open Mic at Lois E Griffith Event
Lois E Griffith Event
Sharon Lee De La Cruz
students at Lois E Griffith Event
Thinking through the multiple ways Blackness–and all of its implications regarding African disaporic peoples–intersects with ideas about “Latinidad,” inspired our series exploring “Afrolatinidades.”  This curiosity also inspired a new course we created for our new major.

 We wanted to build on the historic coalitions between Black and Latine folks, especially as they shape the teaching, scholarship, and community that is the Black and Latino Studies department at Baruch College, City University of New York.

Our community of teachers, students, and scholars celebrates intersectionality, interdisciplinarity, and innovation.  We understand the historical pairing of Black and Latinx Studies at Baruch College is an asset that unites the important historical, cultural, and intellectual connections that are central to our mission.  We believe equitable, student-centered pedagogies, and engaged scholarship is critical to the work of  public education and to more justice for everyone.

 We are happy to share these resources, teaching tools, and scholarship as free and open educational resources. Collaboration and public-facing knowledge is crucial to how we understand education as a practice of freedom. Our process is ongoing, and we continue to learn and to grow. Please use and remix the materials here in any way that works for you.  We thank the scholars, creatives, and activists who so generously shared their time and expertise with us. We are also so grateful for the support from the Mellon Foundation’s Black, Race, and Ethnic Studies Initiative (BRESI) at the City University of New York.
Who We Are

Shelly Eversley, Interim Chair, Black and Latino Studies Department, Baruch College, CUNY

Keisha Allan, Assistant Professor, Black and Latino Studies Department , Baruch College, CUNY

Joseph Caceres, Graduate Student, Department of English, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Karanja Keita Carroll, Doctoral Lecturer

Dasharah Greene, Graduate Student, Department of English, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Jennifer Caroccio Maldonado, Assistant Professor English, Baruch College, CUNY

Albert Garcia, Graduate Student, Department of Sociology, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Vallerie Matos, Graduate Student, Department of English, The Graduate Center, CUNY

Tshombe Miles, Associate Professor, Black and Latino Studies Department, Baruch College, CUNY

Rojo Robles Mejias, Assistant Professor, Black and Latino Studies Department, Baruch College, CUNY

Shirley Reynozo, Adjunct Lecturer, Black and Latino Studies Department, Baruch College, CUNY

Rebecca Salois, Doctoral Lecturer, Black and Latino Studies Department, Baruch College, CUNY

How We Explore AfroLatinidades
Sound Projecs by Our Students
By Selena Rodas
By Darnaldy Riboul
Latinx Visions Playlist
Music Playlist
More Content to Hear

Coming Soon

Queer Afro-Latine History Through Comics

Sharon Lee De La Cruz discusses her graphic novel, I’m a Wildseed. In conversation with Dr. Jennifer Maldonado, De La Cruz shared her experiences as a Black, Dominican, and Puerto Rican, queer artist. Her graphic novel delves into discourse on intersectionality, misogynoir in the medical industrial complex, immigrant and queer family dynamics, and queer history.

Afro-Latinx Revolution: Puerto Rico
Latin America Tried to Eliminate Black People – And Failed
More Content to Watch

“Takeover: How We Occupied a Hospital and Changed Public Health Care” (Film. By Emma Francis-Snyder. 2021)

We Are Who We Are

HASTA LA RAIZ

ELENA 

CITIZEN OF NOWHERE

Teach-In: From La Sentencia to a Transnational Hispaniola

Read the Teach-In: From La Sentencia to a Transnational Hispaniola PowerPoint presentation, a walkthrough of the event presentation, and resources, including supplemental videos and articles.

Teach-In: From La Sentencia to a Transnational Hispaniola PresentationDownload
Resources for From La Sentencia to a Transnational HispaniolaDownload
Antiblackness and it’s Context in Urban Brazil

The following bibliography below provides some key texts documenting the history of anti-blackness in Brazil and how Afro-Brazilians have fought against anti-blackness.

Bibliography of Afro Brazilians History Culture and PoliticsDownload
Creative Work

Novels

Halsey Street, Naima Coster

Down These Mean Streets, Piri Thomas

Outside the Bones, Lun Diorio Sandin

Erzulie’s Skirt, Ana Maurine Lara

The Poet X, Elizabeth Acevedo

Family Lore, Elizabeth Acevedo

Song of the Water Saints, Nellie Rosario

Shadowshaper, Daniel Jose Older

Tentacle, Rita Indiana

Wild Tongues Can’t be Tamed, Saraciea J. Fennell

Brother, Sister, Mother, Explorer, Jamie Figueroa

Neruda on the Park, Clayvis Natera

I’m a Wild Seed, Sharon Lee De La Cruz

Poetry

The Black Maria, Arecelis Girmay

Pedro Pietri: Selected Poetry, Pedro Pietri

Bluestown Mockingbird Mambo, Sandra Maria Estevez

Love is Hard Work, Miguel Algarín

Boat People, Mayra Santos Febres

Bendición: The Complete Poetry of Tato Laviera, Tato Laviera

Shorty Bon Bon, Willie Perdomo

No Budu Please, Wingston Gonzalez 

Florida Water: Poems, Aja Monet

My Mother was a Freedom Fighter, Aja Monet 

We Are Owed, Ariana Brown 

Muse Found in a Colonized Body, Yesenia Montilla

Black God Mother This Body, Raina J. León

Scholarship
  • The Afro-Latin@ Studies Reader, Juan Flores and Miriam Jimenez-Roman
  • Decolonizing Diasporas:  Radical Mapping and Afro-Atlantic Literature, Yomaira C. Figueroa-Vasquez
  • Translating “Blackness”: Dominicans Negotiating Race and Belonging, Lorgia Garcia-Pena
  • Archives of Conjure: Stories of the Dead in Afrolatinx Cultures, Solimar Otero
  • Circuits of the Sacred: A Faggotology of the Black Latinx Caribbean, Carlos Decena
  • ”Latinx is a Wound Not a Trend”, Alan Palaez Lopez
  • “Latinidad is Canceled”: Confronting an Anti-Black Construct, Tatiana Flores
  • ” Ni de aquí ni de allá: Denationalization and Mass Deportation between the United States and the Dominican Republic”,  Estrella, Amarilys and Saudi Garcia (We Are All Dominican Collective)
  • “Aqui y Alla: The Diaspora Needs to Stand with Dominicans Challenging Anti-Blackness in the D.R.”, Cruz, Kleaver, Amarilys Estrella and Yanilda Gonzalez
  • “Muertos Civiles: Mourning the Casualties of Racism in the Dominican Republic.”, Amarilys Estrella
  • DJ Moya Event flyer, featuring orange and red stylish figures dancing and curvy lines, and a picture of DJ Moya (Professor Shirley Reynozo) dj-ing with a sound board and in a red fuzzy coat
  • Event Flyer for Antiblackness and it's context in Urban Brazil and the African Diaspora - featuring a Brazilian flag behind text of event time/date/place, and including biographical information for guest speakers
  • Flyer for Elaine Lois Griffith Event, featuring a black and white picture of Griffith, the location and date/time, and the Baruch logo
  • flyer for Teach-In: From La Sentencia to a Transnational Hispaniola: featuring images of people protesting with signes and flags in the streets of the Dominican Republic
  • Event flyer for Rito de Paso/ Right of Passage, featuing a woman dancing on rocks in a greyscale landscape
  • Event flyer from Queer Afro-Latina History Through Comics, featuring a picture of Sharon Lee De La Cruz and images from her graphic novel, I'm a Wild Seed

Other Organizations/Institutions

Latinx Project

afrolatin@ forum

Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI)

Nuyorican Poets Cafe