Invited Session - Scholarly Dilemmas: “Race, Color, Casta” and Other Labels in Latin America and the Caribbean

Session Submission Type: Workshop

Abstract

This workshop invites participants to reflect about the breadth of the racial and ethnic tapestry of Latin America and the Caribbean, through its colonial and nineteenth-century terms “race,” “color,” “casta.” The complexity of these terms, as well as others like “mestizaje” in Spanish, “mistura” in Portuguese, and the processes of ethnogenesis (the formation of new ethnic identities) associated to them, cannot simply assume their given and exact definitions. Instead, presenters and audience are invited to reflect about different uses of these terms and the reasons for such use. We anticipate that the presenters will consider differences and overlaps of these terms in colonial and nineteenth-century texts and their impact in today’s scholarly and creative endeavors. This panel, devised as broadly theoretical and historical, features experts in colonial and nineteenth-century Latin American studies of race, casta, color and ethnicity who will address —among others— the following questions:

1. How do you understand the issue of Latin American studies of “race” and its labels? What do scholars in your field tend to understand by “race”, “casta”, “color”, and “ethnicity”? Intersections/overlapping —Do you find them useful or blurry?
2. Given the diversity of elements understood within the term “race”, how have you approached successfully this topic in your reflection towards writing your own scholarship?
3. Share with us some difficult or challenging experience in dealing with “race” and its labels in your work. (Research, teaching, and/or service)
4. What new avenues of production or conundrums for reflection related to these topics do you think should be addressed in the future by artists, creative writers, and scholars?

To conclude the discussion: What would you recommend to a person who will embark in the study of “race” in your field?

Sub Track

• Invited Panels

Session Organizers

• Rocio Quispe-Agnoli, Michigan State University

• Juan Carlos González-Espitia, University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill

Chair

• Juan Carlos González-Espitia, University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill

Presenters

• Maria Elena Martinez, University of Southern California

• Yolanda M Martínez-San Miguel, The State University of New Jersey

• Ruth A Hill, Vanderbilt University

• José A Mazzotti, Tufts University

• Karen A Stolley, Emory University

• Marcel M Velázquez, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos