Carmen Montañez's novel "Pelo bueno, pelo malo" acknowledges the struggle that some Caribbean individuals face in accepting their blackness. The novel integrates the union of ancestors with the living, thus reflecting the Bantu concept known as "Muntu". This Puerto Rican novel presents a deep social problem of internalized…

Historically, black women's hair has been a site where power and social relations are defined. In Puerto Rico, cultural production has been critical in perpetuating as well as in contesting the prevailing white European ideal of beauty and its impact on women's hairstyling practices. Nevertheless, the link between aesthetic preferences and the…

This paper profiles representative Afro-Brazilian writers and provides a guide to English language translations and critical studies of their work. The aim is to encourage instructors to broaden the scope of current curricula in black and Latin American studies courses. Recent studies estimate that more than 40 percent of Brazil's inhabitants are…