Stories of Latin American Women of African Heritage Daughters of Muntu

List of Contributors

Acknowledgements

Prologue: Black Women in Cuban Literature of Centuries Past

Georgina Herrera

Introduction

María Mercedes Jaramillo and Lucía Ortiz

Argentina

1. White Mothers and Wet Nurses

Alberto Morlachetti
2. My Beautiful Black Sisters

Adriana Genta

Brazil

3. Watercolor of Brazil: Shades of a Society - From Pigmentocracy toward Democracy

Percio Castro

4. Benedita da Silva: From the Favelas of Rio to the Halls of Power

Simone Accorsi

5. The Black Voice of a Favelada: Race, Gender and Nation in the Testimony of Carolina Maria de Jesus

Mónica Ayala-Martínez

Colombia

6. Afro-Colombian Women’s Music: La Negra Grande de Colombia and Totó la Momposina

Paola Marín

7. Lolia Pomare Myles: A Bridge Between the Old Word and the New

Ana Mercedes Patiño Mejía

8. Piedad Córdoba: Between Controversy and Conviction

Graciela Uribe-Álvarez and Juan David Zambrano-Valencia

9. The Voice of Edelma Zapata Pérez – Afro-Colombian Poet Interview

Patricia Rodríguez-Martínez

10. Afro-Colombian Women Voices from the Margin: Mary Grueso Romero and María Elcina Valencia Córdoba

Alain Lawo-Sukam

11. María Teresa Ramírez and María de los Ángeles Popov: Heiresses of  Yemayá and Changó

María Mercedes Jaramillo

12. Goyo: Driving Chocoano Rap

Diana Rodríguez Quevedo

13. Life Stories of Women from Palenque in Organizations in the Colombian Caribbean

Doris Lamus Canavate

Costa Rica

14. Emphatically Black. Reading the Poetry of Costa Rica’s Shirley Campbell Barr

Virginia Capote Díaz

Cuba

15. An Island for Sara Gómez

Inés María Martiatu Terry

16. Hilda Oates: An Afro-descendant Cuban Actress

Daisy Rubiera Castillo

17. Omara Portuondo: The Diva of Cuban Music from Las D’Aida to Buena Vista Social Club

María del Mar López-Cabrales

18. The Poetic World of Nancy Morejón

Juanamaría Cordones-Cook

19. Raise Your Voice, Break the Margins: Rap and Female Discourse

Carmen González

20. Celia Cruz: Live to Sing

Nayla Chehade

Ecuador

21. Luz Argentina Chiriboga, “Esmeraldas’ Star”

Clementina E. Adams

Honduras

22. Ritual Practices of Globalization: Garifuna Women

Betty Osorio Garcés

Mexico

23. Luz María Martínez Montiel: “Ambassador of the African Renaissance in Latin America and Mexico”

Angélica Silva

Peru

24. Fortitude and Charisma: Victoria Santa Cruz

Diana Vela

25. Woman, Mother, and Leader: María Elena Moyano and the Courage of Commitment

Diana Vela

Puerto Rico

26. Ruth Fernández: The Soul of Puerto Rico in Song

Mayra Santos-Febres

27. Breaking Paradigms and Creating New Archetypes: The Black Character in the Works of Mayra Santos Febres

Alejandra Rengifo

28. Queeriqueña Futures and Black Liberation in the Work of Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro

Annie Mendoza

Dominican Republic

29. Salomé Ureña de Henríquez (1850-1897)

Fernando Valerio-Holguín

30. The Triple Marginality: Florinda Soriano (Mamá Tingó)

Fernando Valerio-Holguín

31. Sherezada Vicioso and the Construction of Her Own Caribbean

Yohainna Abdala-Mesa

Uruguay

32. Stars in the South: Martha Gularte, Lágrima Ríos and Rosa Luna

Isabel Sans

33. Alba Roballo: “Nevertheless, I am alive”

Silka Freire

34. An Interview with Cristina Rodríguez Cabral: The Continuous Process of Identity and Its Poetic Projection

Silvia Valero

Venezuela

35. Carmen Verde Arocha: “I Believe That Being a Poet Is a Destiny”

Patricia González Herrera

Index

Biography

María Mercedes Jaramillo Professor Emirita at Fitchburg State University. She was President of the Association of Colombianist (2011-2013). Her research explores Latin American theater, women writers and Colombian literature and culture.

Lucía Ortiz is a Professor of Spanish in the Department of Humanities at Regis College in Massachusetts. Her research focuses on Afro-Latin American literature and women’s literature.

"This seminal work features artists, activists and writers from South and Central America, and the Caribbean. The essays explore women’s journeys of resistance and endurance against societal silence. The volume serves as a valuable introduction for researchers and students seeking the authentic stories of Afro-Latin American creatives in the diaspora and invites further exploration and analysis of these often hidden narratives."

- Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa

 

"This groundbreaking collection assembles thought-provoking essays on women of African descent from key regions in Latin America. Some of these “daughters of the muntu” are internationally renowned, while others equally deserve recognition. Collectively, their voices illuminate a rich and enduring tradition of the Black female experience, offering an indispensable counter-narrative to prevailing cultural norms."

- William Luis, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in the Humanities, Vanderbilt University