Black women who seek and win elected office are changing the political landscape in the Americas. In Latin America, this shift became widely recognized when Epsy Campbell Barr became the first Black woman vice president in Costa Rica in 2018. Her election builds on the work of three generations of women whose engagement in formal politics is rooted in their intertwined identities as Black, women, and of West Indian descent. By recovering a racialized, gendered, and ethnicized lineage of community activism, relationships, and networking—which I call “Little’s links” to honor the legacy of the writer and activist Eulalia Bernard Little—I argue that in Costa Rica, Caribbean identity and Black motherhood politics have influenced Black women’s engagement in national politics. This account of these other (and mothers’) political routes to state power for Afro-Caribbean women in Costa Rica complements current explanations of Black women’s participation in national politics elsewhere.

This article explores the experience of the Afro-Colombian movement over the course of two peace processes, investigating the relationship between opportunities for participation and effective inclusion. The 1991 Constituent Assembly that emerged from the peace processes of the late 1980s presented a particularly open opportunity for civil society participation, and yet the Afro-Colombian movement was unable to gain representation in negotiations for a new constitution. In the 2016 peace process with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or FARC, despite insistence from the government that its negotiations with FARC were exclusively bilateral, the Afro movement was able to gain a seat at the table along with its Indigenous counterparts and generate a commitment from both parties to protect ethnic rights, known as the Capítulo Étnico (Ethnic Chapter). In contrast to existing literature that focuses on international actors as drivers of inclusion, we argue that effective inclusion reflects in large part the internal capacity, coherence, and unity of the movements themselves.

Este artículo estudia la cultura afrobarroca y la soberanía negra de los afromexicanos a través del análisis de la descripción de dos performances de “reyes negros” que se encuentran en la “Relación de las fiestas insignes que en la Ciudad de México se hicieron en la dedicación de la Iglesia de la Casa Profesa y beatificación de nuestro Santo Padre Ignacio” de 1610. La finalidad de este análisis es triple. Primero se busca distinguir estos reyes negros festivos de los presuntos reyes negros rebeldes. En segundo lugar, y más central al artículo, se busca exponer la cultura afrobarroca que los afrodescendientes desarrollaron en el México colonial, resaltando su agencia cultural, social y política en la formación de esa cultura. Por último, a luz de esa triple agencia, se teoriza sobre su soberanía, o autonomía y libertad en darle el carácter que quisieron a su cultura criolla.

Do large-scale and unexpected events, such as natural disasters, affect elections? This article studies the political dimension of the 19-S earthquake that hit Mexico City in 2017, a few months before the 2018 elections. Using fine-grained geospatial data, the results show that candidates from the city-level incumbent Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD) had a small increase in vote share in 2018 compared to the previous election in precincts more exposed to damaged caused by the earthquake (in terms of both distance-based and per capita measures), accounting for the seismic profile and socioeconomic characteristics of the neighborhood. The article shows that the implementation of disaster-recovery policy explains part of this relationship. Moreover, voters were as electorally responsive to a future risk reduction strategy as to a reconstruction credit.

Costa Rica’s environmental regime is world renowned, and since the mid-twentieth century, the country has protected its inestimable natural resources via land conservation expropriation. Through conservation Costa Rica ended the historical plague of deforestation, and its national parks and nature reserves buttress an ecotourism industry that is an important source of foreign revenue. But with every act of conservation, a human toll was also paid. As rural lands became protected areas, rural people lost access to places they depended on for survival. They hence became “victims” or, to some, “enemies” of conservation, and in nearly every setting, they resisted by carrying out land invasions; squatting; unauthorized ranching, farming, and mining; and even environmental banditry (as with the burning of La Casona in Santa Rosa National Park in 2001). Focusing on a handful of celebrated cases of land conservation, this analysis demonstrates how the creation of natural havens such as Corcovado National Park in 1975 displaced rural people and the various ways those people responded.

This study assesses the environmental damage caused by copper mining on surface water bodies in Chile. The few official records on the discharges and concentrations of arsenic and copper only allow for identifying the impacts of some mining operations in the regions of Coquimbo, Valparaíso, and O’Higgins. The economic valuation is carried out through the impact pathway approach, which relates copper production, discharges, concentrations, and dose-response coefficients to establish effects on health and agriculture. The results show that the economic damage due to water pollution occurs mainly in the regions of Coquimbo and O’Higgins. The above is explained because the greatest externalities are generated in agricultural areas, while the damage to health is low because of the small population exposed (97.6% versus 2.4%). Finally, total damages represent 0.43%, 0.26%, and 0.0001% of copper sales in the mining operations analyzed in the regions of Coquimbo, O’Higgins, and Valparaíso, respectively.

Social conflicts stemming from industrial mining projects in Peru have increasingly been fought in court cases in recent years. This article analyzes the dark side of this judicialization of mining conflicts, a process through which state authorities criminalize participation in social protests and attempt to prevent the mobilization of social movements. This use of the law by public authorities is an example of the so-called shrinking space in which the scope of action of civil society actors is increasingly restricted and constrained worldwide. This article presents an in-depth analysis of a specific court case against a group of mining opponents in the Cajamarca region of Peru. Based on ethnographic field research conducted in Peru, the article discusses three different modalities of the law’s domination, exploring the various ways the law rules those who oppose large-scale extractive projects.

Sustainable energy economics in Latin America has become relevant due to the region’s dependence on the oil market and the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. A systematic review of the ten major economies in the region based on gross domestic product is conducted. We primarily analyze production performance of hydro, wind, and solar energies, in terms of total gigawatt hours produced, current participation levels in energy matrices, and total installed capacity. Current and future trends and legal frameworks for each technology and country are discussed. Our analyses indicate that Latin America and the Caribbean can potentially increase the usage of renewable energy sources given a plethora of natural resources, favorable geographical and climatic conditions, and existing large-scale hydro installations to counteract the inconsistency of wind and solar projects. Therefore, governments in the region must overhaul sustainable policies to increase awareness and reduce energy dependence on foreign powers.

This article analyzes several patterns of antisemitism in twentieth-century Latin America. It identifies historical moments when carriers of social and political ideas projected negative images of Jews, sometimes pushing anti-Jewish policies and at times leading violent actions against Jews. Thus, antisemitism served to mobilize in defense of national identity; as a reaction to Jewish peddlers perceived as a threat to national economies; as a basis for the generalized rejection of “undesirable refugees” during World War II and the Holocaust; and as a Cold War phenomenon, along with anticommunism and neo-Nazism. Like other forms of xenophobia, antisemitism was grounded in prejudice and the demonization of a supposed enemy rather than being based on verified evidence. Analysis suggests that antisemitism has been deeply rooted in Latin America and has manifested over time with changing historical and social constellations. At the same time, while Judeophobic prejudices and actions have been intimidating and have at times precluded the legal immigration of Jews, antisemitism has rarely become dominant or led to systemic social discrimination, massive expulsion, or mass genocide, unlike in Europe.

This article explores the role “whiteness” takes on in Mexico, where colonial, religious, and social heritages elevate it as an aesthetic ideal, simultaneously denying its underlying racism. It argues that skin tone is one of many physical and nonphysical features that together shape the concept of whiteness in a context of fluid, relational, and intertwined categories of class and racial classifications. Women in particular are pressured to “whiten” their bodies in adherence to beauty standards that reflect the collective aspiration of the country’s ethnically mixed society. Using empirical evidence, the article outlines Mexicans’ aesthetic perceptions and explores their attempts to approach these through bodily presentations and adjustments. It then discusses how the local beauty industry acts as a practical tool and a discursive mediator toward racialized appearances. Possessing its own historical, political, and racial background deeply entangled with whiteness, this sector reinforces the subjective basis of discriminatory practices in Mexico.

This essay reviews the following works:

Beyond Babel: Translations of Blackness in Colonial Peru and New Granada. By Larissa Brewer-García. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2020. Pp. xvi + 304. $99.99 hardcover. ISBN: 9781108493000.

Arqueología del mestizaje: Colonialismo y racialización. By Laura Catelli. Temuco: Ediciones Universidad de la Frontera, CLACSO, 2020. Pp. 296. ISBN: 9789562363853.

Key to the New World: A History of Early Colonial Cuba. By Luis Martínez-Fernández. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2018. Pp. 220 + 236. $24.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781683401278.

The Routledge Hispanic Studies Companion to Colonial Latin America and the Caribbean (1492–1898). Edited by Yolanda Martínez-San Miguel and Santa Arias. London: Routledge, 2021. Pp. 460. $250.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781138092952.

On Decoloniality: Concepts, Analytics, Praxis. By Walter D. Mignolo and Catherine E. Walsh. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2018. Pp xii + 304. $27.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780822371090.

Infrastructures of Race: Concentration and Biopolitics in Colonial Mexico. By Daniel Nemser. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2017. Pp. viii + 232. $29.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781477312605.

The Occupation of Havana: War, Trade, and Slavery in the Atlantic World. By Elena A. Schneider. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2018. Pp. 360. $39.95 hardcover. ISBN: 9781469645353.

Blood and Boundaries: The Limits of Religious and Racial Exclusion in Early Modern Latin America. By Stuart B. Schwartz. Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 2020. Pp. xviii + 256. $35.00 paperback. ISBN: 9781684580200.

This essay reviews the following works:

The Trade in the Living: The Formation of Brazil in the South Atlantic, Sixteenth to Seventeenth Centuries. By Luiz Felipe de Alencastro. Translated by Gavin Adams and Luiz Felipe de Alencastro; revised by Michael Wolfers and Dale Tomich. Albany: SUNY Press, 2018. Pp. xx + 606. $95.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781438469294.

Freedom’s Captives: Slavery and Gradual Emancipation on the Colombian Black Pacific. By Yesenia Barragan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021. Pp. xviii + 326. $99.99 hardcover. ISBN: 9781108832328.

From the Galleons to the Highlands: Slave Trade Routes in the Spanish Americas. Edited by Alex Borucki, David Eltis, and David Wheat. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2020. Pp. x + 350. $34.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780826361165.

Una historia de la emancipación negra: Esclavitud y abolición en la Argentina. By Magdalena Candioti. Buenos Aires: Siglo Veintiuno Editores, 2021. Pp. 272. Arg$3,892.00 paperback. ISBN: 9789878011134.

Hiding in Plain Sight: Black Women, the Law, and the Making of a White Argentine Republic. By Erika Denise Edwards. Tuscaloosa: University Alabama Press, 2020. Pp. xvi + 168. $29.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780817360313.

Afro-Catholic Festivals in the Americas: Performance, Representation, and the Making of Black Atlantic Tradition. Edited by Cécile Fromont. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2019. Pp. 224. $29.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780271083308.

Constructing the Spanish Empire in Havana: State Slavery in Defense and Development, 1762–1835. By Evelyn P. Jennings. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2020. Pp. xiv + 283. $45.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780807173947.

Africanos livres: A abolição do tráfico de escravos para o Brasil. By Beatriz G. Mamigonian. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2017. Pp. 625. R$74.90 paperback. ISBN: 9788535929331.

The Story of Rufino: Slavery, Freedom, and Islam in the Black Atlantic. By João José Reis, Flávio dos Santos Gomes, and Marcus J. M. de Carvalho. Translated by H. Sabrina Gledhill. New York: Oxford University Press, 2020. Pp. ix + 307. ISBN: 9780190224363.

Captives of Conquest: Slavery in the Early Modern Spanish Caribbean. By Erin Woodruff Stone. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021. Pp. 235. $49.95 hardcover. ISBN: 9780812253108.

This essay reviews the following works:

They Should Stay There: The Story of Mexican Migration and Repatriation during the Great Depression. By Fernando Saúl Alanís Enciso. Translated by Russ Davidson. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2017. Pp. xxvi + 272. $29.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781469634265. (Original work published in 2007 as Que se queden allá: El gobierno de México y la repatriación de mexicanos en Estados Unidos, 1934–1940).

Deported Americans: Life after Deportation to Mexico. By Beth C. Caldwell. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2019. Pp. xii + 248. $25.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781478003908.

Outsourcing Welfare: How the Money Immigrants Send Home Contributes to Stability in Developing Countries. By Roy Germano. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018. Pp. x + 227. $33.95 hardcover. ISBN: 9780190862848.

The Deportation Machine: America’s Long History of Expelling Immigrants. By Adam Goodman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2020. Pp. ix + 336. $19.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780691204208.

Defiant Braceros: How Migrant Workers Fought for Racial, Sexual, and Political Freedom. By Mireya Loza. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2016. Pp. xiii +254. $29.95 paperback ISBN: 9781469629766.

Risking Immeasurable Harm: Immigration Restriction and US-Mexican Diplomatic Relations, 1924–1932. By Benjamin C. Montoya. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2020. Pp. xiii + 342. $55.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781496201294.

Diplomacia migratoria: Una historia transnacional del Programa Bracero, 1947–1952. By Catherine Vézina. Mexico City: Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, 2018. Pp. xi + 404. $13.99 e-book. ISBN: 9786078508082.

This essay reviews the following works:

Bandits and Liberals, Rebels and Saints: Latin America since Independence. By Alan Knight. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2022. Pp. xvi + 423. $35.00 paperback. ISBN: 9781496229786.

Latecomer State Formation: Political Geography and Capacity Failure in Latin America. By Sebastián Mazzuca. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2021. Pp. xii + 448. $50.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780300248951.

Republics of Knowledge: Nations of the Future in Latin America. By Nicola Miller. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2020. Pp. ix + 304. $42.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780691176758.

The Mexican Revolution’s Wake: The Making of a Political System, 1920–1929. By Sarah Osten. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020. Pp. xiv + 290. $29.99 paperback. ISBN: 9781108401289.

Five Republics and One Tradition: A History of Constitutionalism in Chile, 1810–2020. By Pablo Ruiz-Tagle. Translated by Ana Luisa Goldsmith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021. Pp. x + 314. $110.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781108835312.

Liberalism as Utopia: The Rise and Fall of Legal Rule in Post-colonial Mexico, 1820–1900. By Timo H. Schaefer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Pp. x + 248. $29.99 paperback. ISBN: 9781316640784.

A Woman, a Man, a Nation: Mariquita Sánchez, Juan Manuel de Rosas, and the Beginnings of Argentina. By Jeffrey M. Shumway. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2019. Pp. xvii + 334. $34.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780826360908.

Los juegos de la política: Las independencias hispanoamericanas frente a la contrarrevolución. By Marcela Ternavasio. Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI Editores, 2021. Pp. 264. Arg$1,720 paperback. ISBN: 9789878010809.

A Life Together: Lucas Alamán and Mexico, 1792–1853. By Eric Van Young. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2021. Pp. xii + 833. $50.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780300233919.

This essay reviews the following works:

Before the Flood: The Itaipu Dam and the Visibility of Rural Brazil. By Jacob Blanc. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2019. Pp. 320. $27.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781478004899.

For Land and Liberty: Black Struggles in Rural Brazil. By Merle L. Bowen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021. Pp. xxii + 248. $99.99 hardcover. ISBN: 9781108832359.

Agriculture and Industry in Brazil: Innovation and Competitiveness. By Albert Fishlow and José Eustáquio Ribeiro Vieira Filho. New York: Columbia University Press, 2020. Pp. xiv + 244. $70.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780231549523.

Migration and the Making of Industrial São Paulo. By Paulo Fontes. Foreword by Barbara Weinstein. Translated from the Portuguese by Ned Sublette. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2016. Pp. xvi + 280. $27.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780822361343.

An Economic and Demographic History of São Paulo 1850–1950. By Francisco Vidal Luna and Herbert S. Klein. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2018. Pp. xxviii + 448. $75.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781503602007.

Brazil’s Long Revolution: Radical Achievements of the Landless Workers Movement. By Anthony Pahnke. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2018. Pp. xx + 274. $65.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780816536030.