Write a well-developed short essay in which you analyze one important theme, or one central idea from our “Black in Latin America” and “The Black Atlantic” films. Describe that issue in detail, and provide us with historical background from our lectures and readings from Chasteen and from our Wood and Alexander reader so that we can fully understand the theme you're developing.
What do our readings say about that film theme you’re analyzing? Then discuss all of the ways that issue is important for our understanding of the Americas during the middle and late colonial period.
Examples of themes that these films deal with: 1) how does the slave trade affect each of those countries- the United States, Brazil, Haiti, the Dominican Republic? 2) How does “race-based slavery” emerge in the modern world and what are the consequences of that? 3) In what ways do African cultures (music, dance, language…) reshape those countries and how does this relate to “transculturation”; 4) How does each nation come to define “blackness” and what are some consequences of that (legal, social)? These are just a few examples of the themes that these films deal with- there are lots more)
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