Department of Modern Languages and Literatures

Prof. SARAH M. QUESADA, Duke University
Friday, October 27, 4pm
Gilman 476

THE AFRICAN HERITAGE OF LATINX AND CARIBBEAN LITERATURE

Sarah M. Quesada’s book illustrates a “Latin-African” history: an untold story that challenges dominant narratives in world literature and transatlantic studies that ignore Africa's impact in broader Latin American culture. A book that defies the separation of fields according to colonial languages, Quesada shows how themes such as the 19th century Belgian “scramble for the Congo,” the decolonizing war in Angola, and the neoliberal turn in Nigeria are embedded in some of the most noted authors of Latin American decent in the last fifty years. This is also the first book-length project to address the African colonial and imperial inheritance of Latinx literature.