Whiteness in Latin America

Inaugural event of the new UCL Institute of the Americas series 'Race and Racism in the Americas'. In the past few years, anti-racist movements and scholars called our attention to how race has played a vital role in shaping modern unequal societies. Diverse organizations and scholars advocated for afro and indigenous communities' visibility and rights, opening a public discussion about the legacies of racism in Latin American postcolonial societies. This event brought together three leading scholars on race studies to discuss an issue usually overlooked in the region: the role of whiteness in Latin American cultures. Erika Denise Edwards (University of North Carolina at Charlotte), Ignacio Aguiló (University of Manchester) and Lamonte Aidoo(Duke University) discussed multiple questions such as: What does it mean to be white in Latin America? Has this meaning changed over time? What role have discourses on whiteness played in Latin American Nation-building? This session was convened and chaired by Dr Patricio Simonetto, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at UCL Institute of the Americas. It took place online on October 6 2021.