Choosing a Color for the Cosmic Race: African Americans and National Identities in Central America

FAIN: RZ-20704-01

Mount Holyoke College (South Hadley, MA 01075-1423)
Lowell Gudmundson (Project Director: September 2000 to November 2004)

To support the research for a book, database, and website that would reassess the historical presence and contributions of peoples of African descent in Central America during the past two centuries.

An interdisciplinary and international research effort that will document and interpret the contributions of African Americans to the emergence of nation states and national identities in modern Central America, as well as the politics of historical memory surrounding these issues. Research on both target African American populations and on the genealogy and racial classification background to the discounting of African heritage in shared national symbols of identity, both visual and textual. In addition to a book-length study in both Spanish and English, the project will make extensive use of web publication of its findings.