I caught the end of a great webinar and I thought you may be interested in it. It was titled, More then One Drop: Race in Latin America. I was most fascinated by the conversation about language. I’ve been wondering about Ema, the narrator’s, language about the Afro-Dominicans in the book Hay Que Salvar a Sole. On page 17 she describes her classmates as “negros o mulatos”. In the states, these terms have been used historically, and today are often offensive. In my house using four letter words was not condoned yet, my father was always clear that he would wash our mouths out with soap if we used these words so even today I feel uncomfortable using them.
The moderator of the webinar suggested that we use Afro-Latinos or Afro-specific to the nation. She also provided some great resources to use to talk about race in the classroom. here they are in case you’d like to use them.
Brazil in Black & White, a PBS series
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/brazil-in-black-and-white/introduction/965/
A Rising Voice: Afro-Latin Americans, a series of articles by the Miami Herald.
http://www.miamiherald.com/multimedia/news/afrolatin/index.html
Next Weeks Latin America Webinar is about Religion. Check it out at: http://globaleducation.ning.com/events/intro-to-latin-america-3
What are some resources you have used to talk about Afro-Latinos?
