Afro-Latin-American and Caribbean Studies

The International Specialization Course in Afro-Latin American and Caribbean Studies is a proposal for intensive post-graduation training that aims to disseminate current research and debates on the history, trajectories and social dynamics of the Afro-descendant population of Latin America and the Caribbean within a critical decolonial, Afro-Latin American perspective, Afro-Caribbean and Afro-feminist. It also constitutes a space that seeks to interweave academic, political, educational, and aesthetic reflections and promote the creation and strengthening of the field of studies.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, coloniality is a specific and constitutive element of a pattern of power in which the imposition of an ethnic-racial classification of its population plays a fundamental role. Becoming aware of the coloniality of power that operates in both the macrosocial, microsocial and subjective spheres requires addressing the epistemes of non-African identity and the racial quest as a colonial historical invention whose effects continue to affect the social destiny and daily existence of those who inhabit this region. At the same time, reconstitute power as a network of relations that indissociatively intertwines at least three systems of oppression – “race”, gender and class – and the different matrices that compose the “historical alterities” derived from racialization. In every nation, this implies offering a new perspective on these relationships and promoting more effective actions, based on the specificities of Afro-Latin American and Caribbean thought and creativity. Finally, it implies understanding and confronting the processes of discrimination, exclusion, criminalization, genocide, feminism and youth of Afro-descendant populations and participating in the creation of conditions for the production of own knowledge about these processes and adequate combat strategies to confront these problems. forms of violence.

In the last decade we witnessed in the region that we could take an anti-racist turn to designate this change that occurred in the way in which attention is given to racism in the public sphere and its effects, in a work perspective. At the same time, in the last two years, the processes of racist oppression and violence that constitute coloniality have become evident – ​​as expressed by the disproportionate ethnic-racial distribution of victims of the Covid-19 pandemic, the global movement of protest and awareness of racism caused by police violence and the deaths of George Floyd, in Minneapolis, and other racialized young people in various countries in the region. Além disso, in many contexts, this movement is promoted – with different levels, intensity, magnitude and results – to the elaboration and implementation of public policies to combat racism.

This training program seeks to account for the non-academic growth of the intellectual and political organization of black Latin American and Caribbean women and men and of an Afro-oriented theoretical and intellectual production that is investigating and confronting racism in its multiple dimensions and levels, from a critical and emancipatory perspective.

• Disseminate and promote research on theories, histories, philosophies, knowledge, arts and cosmologies of African heritage on the Latin American and Caribbean continent.
• Provide conceptual and historical elements that allow us to address, from critical and intersectoral perspectives, the processes of racialization of Afro-descendant populations and their effects in social and daily life.
• Promote intersectoral and situated analyzes that make it possible to understand the complexity of the existence of Afro-descendant women, men and LGBTQIA+ and elevate the recognition of their rights.
• Train and train for the development, support and endorsement of actions and policies aimed at guaranteeing the human rights of Afro-descendant populations in the face of criminalization, genocide, feminicide and black youth.
• Analyze the conventions, agreements and international resolutions that reconhecem and safeguard the rights of Afro-descendant populations in the scope of the International Decade of African Descent.

The Specialization of the International Course is intended for graduates; post-graduation students; activists and activists of union organizations, social movements and political parties; public officials; printing workers; members and managers of organizations not governed and professionally interested in the matter.

A university diploma is required.

The Specialization in Afro-Latin-American and Caribbean Studies will last 12 months and requires the completion of:

• An international course
• Two elective virtual seminars for curricular offerings
• A support office for the elaboration of final integrative work
• Preparation of final integrative work

The Specialization has a total workload of 360 hours/classroom and is certified by CLACSO and FLACSO Brazil.

The International Course can be done independently without the need for registration in the Specialization program. It will last 12 months and require for its certification the completion and approval of a final project, as well as participation in the activities and tasks proposed by the teaching team.

The International Course has a total workload of 90 hours/classroom and is certified by CLACSO and FLACSO Brazil.

Students will receive support from academic tutors who will accompany them through two different curricular areas and guide them in completing their final work.

CLARIFICATION: Enrollment in the complete Specialization does not require enrollment separately in the International Course.

The curricular spaces will be offered in both Spanish and Portuguese. Likewise, the bibliography may be offered in the two official languages ​​of the course. As two students intervene, our discussion forums can also be different languages. The final integrative work may be in Spanish or Portuguese.