UNDER THE SHADE I FLOURISH

Race, Performance, and the Cultural Politics of the Belizean Trans-Nation

My book in progress investigates how Black Belizeans negotiate identity, citizenship, and nationhood within Belize and across the Belizean diaspora. This work explores how Black Belizeans draw on diverse archives and diasporic resources to construct a transnational identity through an analysis of national commemorations, tourism, the digital space, community formation, migration, and visual culture. This identity is profoundly shaped by hybridity, gendered experiences, and ambiguity, reflecting the legacies of recent colonial history and the dynamic connections between multiple locations across the diaspora.

THE BLACK CENTRAL AMERICAS PROJECT

The Black Central Americas (BCA) Project, founded in 2023 by Dr. Melanie Y. White and myself, is a digital public humanities initiative dedicated to highlighting the rich history, culture, and scholarship of Black Central America. This project serves as a transdisciplinary and transnational hub for dialogue and innovative programming in the evolving field of Black Central American Studies. Grounded in a Black feminist and community-focused approach, the BCA Project emphasizes the digital and fluid nature of Black Central American diasporic culture and knowledge production, exploring themes of migration, movement, and creative resilience in the face of historical displacement.

AFRO-LATIN@ DIASPORAS

Book Series

Serving as one of the series editors, the Afro-Latin@ Diasporas book series features a range of scholarly and creative works that examine the diverse experiences of the African diaspora in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States. This innovative series spotlights the cultural expressions and lived realities of Afro-Latin@s across the Americas, with particular emphasis on their experiences in the United States. Encompassing a wide array of topics—including religion, race, transnational identity, history, literature, music, the arts, social and cultural theory, biography, class, gender, sexuality, politics, migration, and economic relations—it provides an essential platform for advancing scholarship on Afro-Latin@ diasporic life.