Meanings of Blackness

Meanings of Blackness, coordinated by is a series of four seminars convened by Diana Berruezo-Sánchez (ADHUC-Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona) that brings together researchers from the United States and the UK to explore further meanings of Blackness in a variety of early modern Iberian contexts. 

It will open with the discussion on the much expected bilingual and critical edition of Claramonte's play, El valiente negro en Flandes/ The Valiant Black Man in Flanders (Liverpool UP, 2023), edited and translated by Baltasar Fra Molinero (Bates College), Manuel Olmedo Gobante (University of Arkansas) and Nelson López (University of Louisville)—the play shows a Black protagonist that challenges the era’s racist discourses. The second seminar invites Sally Hayes (University of Wisconsin-Madison) to discuss the experiences of self-governance of Afro-Hispanic confraternities in seventeenth-century Lima. The third seminar invites Danielle Terrazas Williams (University of Leeds) to explore the meanings of blackness in the Jesuits’ evangelical missions in New Spain. Finally, both speakers and participants meet for an experimental workshop to discuss the the seminars’ main ideas. 

The first two sessions are open to all and Zoom links will be circulated in due course. The last two require access by writing to Diana.Berruezo@uab.cat

This activity is a result of the project I+D+i: The Making of Blackness, A Process of Cultural and Social Negotiation from the Bottom-Up, PID2021-124893NA-I00, funded by MCIN/ AEI/10.13039/501100011033.