EIHS Symposium: New Directions in the Study of Race in Latin America and the Caribbean

The study of race has been one of the primary ways scholars have engaged with the myriad histories of Latin America and the Caribbean. As scholars push the study of race in new directions, they are also directing renewed focus on old questions, making the present moment a particularly exciting and generative time for the field. This symposium considers the development, meanings, and political outcomes of systems of racial identity and identification in Latin America and the Caribbean, offering graduate students a platform to present their research and engage scholars who are interested in broadening our historical understandings of race in global perspectives.

Opening Remarks: 9:45-10:00 AM
Symposium organizers Ángela Pérez-Villa (History, University of Michigan) and Andrés Pletch (History, University of Michigan) will deliver opening remarks.

Session 1: 10-11:00 AM

Commentator: Professor Daniel Nemser (Romance Languages and Literatures, University of Michigan)

Panelists:
Ana María Silva (History, University of Michigan): "Uprooting Heresy: Property, Free Women of Color, and the Inquisition of Cartagena"
Sophie Hunt (History, University of Michigan): “Who Are the Indians? Racial Fluidity Across the Gulf of Mexico”
John Milstead (History, Michigan State University): "Exporting Commodities and Constructing Race: Language, Culture, and Geography in Late 19th Century Jamiltepec, Oaxaca”

Coffee Break: 11-11:15 AM

Session 2: 11:15 AM-12:15 PM

Commentator: Professor Céline Flory (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales)

Panelists:
Andrew Walker (History, University of Michigan): "All spirits are roused": the Local Meanings of Free Soil in Haitian Santo Domingo, 1822-1844”
Andrés Pletch (History, University of Michigan): “Cuba’s Military Commission and the Construction of a Legal Fiction of Race, 1825-1832”
Marvin Chochotte (History, University of Michigan): “A Post-Emancipation Crisis: Popular Terror, Peasants, Tonton Makouts and the Rise of the Duvalier Dictatorship”

Lunch Break 12:15-1:30 PM

Session 3: 1:45-2:45 PM

Commentator: Professor Paulina Alberto (History, Romance Languages and Literatures, University of Michigan)

Panelists:
Paige Andersson (Romance Languages and Literatures, University of Michigan): “Narratives of Race, Land, and Congregación in Mexico, 1521-2016”
Amanda Reid (History, University of Michigan): “Staging the Jump Up: Afro-Caribbean Performance and Spectatorship at Carifesta 1976”
Pedro Cantisano (History, University of Michigan): "Race, Law, and Urban Reforms in Early 20th Rio de Janeiro"

Coffee Break (2:45 to 3:00 PM)

Concluding remarks: 3:00PM
Professor Ada Ferrer (History, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, New York University) will deliver concluding remarks.

Free and open to the public. Lunch provided.

This event was organized by graduate students Ángela Pérez-Villa and Andrés Pletch and is part of the Friday Series of the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies. It is made possible by a generous contribution from Kenneth and Frances Aftel Eisenberg.