Book Talk “Raising Two Fists by Dr. Roosbelinda Cárdenas González”
Summary of the book:
Raising Two Fists is a historically grounded ethnography of Afro-Colombian political mobilization after the multicultural turn that swept Latin America in the 1990s, when states began to recognize and legally enshrine rights for Afro-descendants. Roosbelinda Cárdenas explores three major strategies that Afro-Colombians developed in their struggles against racialized dispossession — the defense of culturally specific livelihoods through the creation of Black Territories, the demand for differential reparations for Afro-Colombian war victims and the fight for inclusion in Colombia’s peace negotiations and post-conflict rebuilding — illustrating how they engage in this work both as participants of organized political movements and in their everyday lives.
Although rights-based claims to the state have become necessary and pragmatic tools in the intersecting struggles for racial, economic, and social justice, Cárdenas argues that they continue to be ineffective due to Colombia’s entrenched colonial racial hierarchies. She shows that while Afro-Colombians pursue rights-based claims, they also forge African Diasporic solidarities and protect the flourishing of their lives outside of the frame of rights, with or without the state’s sanction — a “two-fisted” strategy for Black citizenship.
Bio:
Dr. Roosbelinda Cárdenas González is an assistant professor of Cultural Anthropology at John Jay College. Dr. Cardenas’ research brings the histories of postcolonial racial formations to bear on contemporary struggles over citizenship, national belonging, and social justice in Latin America. As a politically engaged scholar, her research is intended to produce knowledge that can be activated for social change. Dr. Cárdenas has published in academic outlets such as Latin American and Caribbean Ethnic Studies, Sexualidad, Salud y Sociedad: Revista Latinoamericana, Social Studies of Science, and The Journal of Peasant of Studies, as well as in popular outlets such as NACLA, MERIP, and The Nation. Her 2024 book, Raising Two Fists: Struggles for Black Citizenship in Multicultural Colombia, is the product of ethnographic research tracing Black antiracist organizing in Colombia for over two decades.
Time: 4:30-6:00 pm EDT
Free!
