Fiesta and Identity
English + Español
In Barranquilla the days of Carnival begin early. From the first hours of the day—already confused with the last hours of the night—the smells of celebration are in the air. The streets…
Category: Identity
Whose Skin Is This, Anyway?
An African-American dresses as a Plains Indian, as if seen through the lens of Fellini, while Andean natives wear white masks and carry whips, pretending to be colonial overseers. Whites…
Divas Play and Queer Belonging In Brazil
For the past seven years or so, I’ve been tracking down scenarios of queer friendship in Fortaleza, a major city in Brazil’s Northeast. I’ve discovered that what…
The Carnival of Rio de Janeiro
Carnival in Brazil, introduced at the beginning of the Portuguese conquest of Latin America, was an urban affair derived from paganism and restricted to…
Bodies and God
When watching the Festival des Divinités Noires in Togo in 2011 I was reminded of the images of samba school parades, which I’ve researched in Rio. Even…
