If we are to understand the meanings of "blackness" in the African diaspora and elsewhere, we must critically examine the paradigms that have emerged from Euro-American racism and black liberation over the past five centuries. So argue the editors of these foundational volumes, which add immeasurably to our understanding of black experiences in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.

In their introduction to this extensive collection, the editors discuss historical forces and provide a critical, interpretive theory of structures of domination and processes of liberation in the Black Americas. By dealing with racialist concepts from the dual standpoints of nation-state and ethnic bloc, they clarify many issues of cultural representation and social identity in Latin America and the Caribbean.