Afro-Latin American Culture Analysis

The history of African Americans in the United States is a subject that embodies the majority of attention. When we are taught about the slave trade in the United States general focus tends to primarily gravitate to North America. We know that Slavery was the prominent product in the colonies which helped the economy to flourish. The forceful and horrendous transition slaves faced from Africa to Colonial America is exemplified as the prevalent victimized diaspora in U.S. history.

There has been an ongoing struggle for black’s rights in the south Americas for several decades, Latin America is a region that imported over ten times as many slaves as the United States, and kept them in bondage far longer. The black presence in Latin America

According to Nathalie Lebon the black presence in Latin America which until recently was socially ignored is now becoming more visible and integrated into society. The cultural, historical, and sociological relevance of Afro-Latin America is now the subject of vigorous examination. In Lebons Article Beyond Confronting the Myth of Racial Democracy: The Role of Afro-Brazilian Women Scholars and Activists he states that “Women of African descent represent nearly a quarter of all Brazilians (AMB, 2001: 10). Despite this incontrovertible fact, until recently very little research had been conducted about this segment of the Brazilian population.

Across Afro-Latin America from Cuba to Colombia to Brazil strong, positive, black-based social movements are creating new democratic space in their respective struggles for human rights protection, social equality, and democratic reform. But this wasn’t always the case blacks in Latin America have been fighting for their rights in south Americas for years a prime example of this could be the after centuries of being relegated to the margins of Latin American societies, black communities throughout the region are challenging social hierarchies that produce structural inequalities. In the academy, the Afro-Latin contribution to art, literature, race and gender models, social movements, the environment, and history, as debated within

Many of these movements are fighting against police brutality, disappearances, extermination, coerced sterilization, poverty, and other systematic abuses. Positively, they are fighting for legal recognition and basic socio-political rights. Center of afro- Ecuadorian Studies Created by Juan Garcia a Historian (sociology) and several other young black men from Ecuador, the program helps raise awareness of the black struggles in Latin America which is a neglected issue worldwide. Juan Stated thatthroughout Latin America blacks didn’t

In general these movements are striving for social and economic development, equality before the law, democratic reforms, human rights, and citizenship. The history of these communities, their levels of empowerment, and their social standing vis-à-vis the overall population vary from country to country; it is true, however, that these communities share many similar problems. This essay is focused on the various Afro-Latin problematic

George Reid’s Article gives excellent political insight on the cultural transformations and on how the African diaspora impacted the burgeoning national identities of distinct nations. Strong on economic history (labor unions) and late-20th-century black political