Africans and Afro-descendants

History and Present of their Presence in Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract

The recognition and visibilization of Afro-descendant peoples in the 21st century mark a significant change in the historical and social narrative. This process has been accompanied by an increase in migrations of Latin American and Caribbean Afro-descendants as well as of Africans, all in search of better opportunities and conditions through which to escape poverty, marginalization and social discrimination. In this new situation, it is crucial to remember and reflect on the adversities and exclusion faced by Africans and Afro-descendants during the Colonial and Republican periods as well as the invisibility and inequality to which they were subject from the time of the formation of nation states through to the present. In light of this, we seek in this dossier to present research on topics associated with ancestry, history and historiography, children's literature, art and state recognition, related to the Africans and Afro-descendants who have been, and continue to be, part of Latin American and Caribbean societies. In line with this, the spaces where the studies for the articles presented in this dossier took place go beyond the regional and include Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Spain and Chile.