Afro-descendant Identities in Cuba and Brazil

Fall 2025

As the last countries to abolish slavery in the Western Hemisphere, Cuba and Brazil represent two of the most important sites in the African diaspora, both historically and up to the present. Both countries are sites of multi-layered Black diaporic culture and identity, where questions of blackness have continuously shaped governmental policies, self-identities, and everyday life. While they share these similarities, they are also contrasted by stark differences such as population size – 11 Million (Cuba) and 215 Million (Brazil), as well as political and economic systems – Cuba as a socialist system, and Brazil as a capitalist and multi-party system. Both countries have also gone through significant changes economically and politically in the past two decades that have impacted and shaped Afrodescendant communities and identities. In this program, we explore contemporary Afro-Cuban and Afro-Brazilian identities with a particular focus on place, racial inequality, and social change. As a two-country program that takes place in four cities on a familiar topic, this program offers multiple opportunities for intellectually-stimulating comparisons and reflections on transnational blackness, national and regional identities, and culture and power between countries and places.

Professor Daniel Williams teaches in Africana Studies and Sociology and Anthropology. His research takes a global-comparative approach to racial identities, with a particular focus on racial categories and boundaries as well as social movements. His geographic focus is on Europe/Germany, and Brazil and Latin America, as well as the study of Black immigrants in the U.S. His current work examines colorblind discourse in the European context (Germany) and its consequences for self-identities and Black European social movements, as well as how Afro-Brazilian immigrants frame and negotiate blackness in the U.S. His deep interest in both Brazil and Cuba has developed over many years of travel to and engagement with scholars and scholarship on Afrodescendents in both locations. He is committed to, and excited to share with students the unique experience of community-engaged and in-country learning of off-campus programs.

Learning Goals

Learn and understand the history of Afrodescendant populations and its local, national, transnational, and diasporic dimensions.
Understand the importance and meaning of place as a basis for Black cultural expression, identity, and politics.
Develop and cultivate a comparative perspective to analyze similarities and differences between Blackness in Cuba and Brazil, as well as between particular cities and regions within each country.
Learn about how Afrodescendant identity has been represented through official and popular discourse, culture, and policy.
Learn about the history and dynamics of racial inequality in multiple social domains–education, housing, economics, politics, and others–and governmental and non-governmental responses to it.
Learn about contemporary issues, politics, and policies affecting Black Cuban and Black Brazilian populations and communities.
Learn from and understand indigenous/local perspectives on knowledge about Afrodescendants.

Prerequisites

Students should show demonstrated interest in Africana Studies, Latin American Studies, and/or the African Diaspora. One course in Africana Studies prior to the program start is highly recommended.

Required Core Courses

LTAM 101: Elementary Portuguese (6 credits)

Elementary Portuguese introduces students to Brazilian Portuguese, emphasizing communicative competence in real contexts. Instruction is conducted in the target language as much as possible. Vocabulary and grammar are taught in context. Instruction pays attention to the cultural information in relevant contexts of communication. The main learning/teaching styles used include role plays, prepared presentations, interactive lectures, classroom conversations, and dramatization. Student assessment is continuous, and includes classroom participation, homework, written exams and oral exams.
Instructor: Local Faculty

AFST 345: Afro-Latin America in Comparative Perspective (6 credits)

This course will focus on overarching themes and theoretical perspectives on contemporary Afro-Latin America. Topics include: political and social change in contemporary Cuba and Brazil and their impact on Afrodescendant communities; theories of Black diasporic identity and cultural expression; theories of race, nation, and ethnicity; gender and class; social inequality.
Instructor: Daniel Williams

SOAN 287: Afro-Descendant Identities and Society (6 credits)

This course will examine Afro-descendant identities through local and site-based topics, including political and social history of race and blackness; urban spaces and neighborhoods; Afro-descendant communities in the economy and education system; community organizing and social movements; representation and commemoration; music, dance, and cultural expression. Topics will be based on expertise of host country lecturers and community specialists.
Instructor: Local Faculty