Revista Brasileira do Caribe

Close to the Caribbean, far from Brazil. The political construction of the State of Maranhão in the times of the Iberian Union (1600-1655)

Alirio Cardoso — 2025-10-24

The objective of this article is to think about the impact of the Iberian Union (1580-1640) on the construction of the idea of a state of Maranhão, far from Brazil and close to the Indies of Castile. In 1621, in the middle of the Iberian Union, the State of Maranhão was created. This new political unit divides Portuguese America into two large administrative areas that are independent of each other and directly subordinate to Lisbon. The creation of the state of Maranhão is a history full of conflicts, agreements and rivalries, between the groups involved: indigenous people, military, missionaries, European authorities. But, the creation of the state of Maranhão also answers a series of major questions about the Portuguese Amazon in the 17th century: the distance between Maranhão and the routes of the state of Brazil; the importance of internal river routes; indigenous importance for all activities carried out in these new lands.

Intercultural relations and transculturation in Cristina García’s Monkey Hunting

Adolfo Licoa — 2025-10-24

This article applies the critical approach to intercultural relations proposed by Rona Halualani to analyze transculturation in the novel Monkey Hunting (2003) by Cuban-American writer Cristina García. Starting from the idea that the interaction between cultures is multidirectional and mediated by power relations – especially ethnicity and social class – the study examines the cultural exchanges, adaptation processes, and sociocultural transformations that occurred in Cuba from the second half of the 19th century to much of the 20th century, as described in García’s text. Thus, by following four generations of a Chinese-Afro-Cuban family descended from a Chinese worker and a formerly enslaved woman, the reading highlights the dynamics and complexity of transculturation in the Hispanic Caribbean and its central role in shaping Cuban culture.

Strategic cross-border synergies: unpacking Belize's relationship with Mexico

Jose Maria Ramos Garcia — 2025-10-24

This article examines Belize’s ties with Chetumal, Bacalar, and Guatemala, focusing on the implications of cross-border cooperation for local and regional development. Rooted in a diachronic analysis of Belize-Guatemala dynamics, this study reveals how historical tensions have intensified Belize’s interactions with Mexico. We emphasize Chetumal’s regional role as the capital of Quintana Roo and discuss Bacalar’s rising significance, largely driven by tourism. The research highlights the multifaceted nature of the Mexico-Belize border and stresses the need for comprehensive cross-border governance to boost competitiveness and well-being in both adjacent and wider regions.

Haiti in globalisation: between revolution, development and violence

Fabio Luis Barbosa dos Santos — 2025-10-24

Based on field research, virtual conversations and document analysis, this article examines the corrosion of the Haitian social fabric associated with the 1994 and 2004 interventions, with the aim of shedding light on the current crisis. It argues that the 1994 intervention opened the door to the establishment of a humanitarian military complex whose actions were renewed and intensified in 2004 and the 2010 earthquake. In this context, the potential of Haitian forms of association were subsumed into an individualistic form of development modelled on international cooperation, at the same time as Haitian state institutions were neglected: an international military-humanitarian crisis containment system was set up. The convergence of the end of MINUSTAH in 2017, the decline of international co-operation and Petrocaribe all contributed to the collapse of this development simulacrum, resulting in the acceleration of the ongoing crisis.

Amefricanity in the voices of five Afro-Latin American poets

Larissa Fostinone Locoselli — 2025-10-24

This paper presents a proposal for reading the work of five Afro-Latin American poets: Victoria Santa Cruz, Conceição Evaristo, Alzira Rufino, Mary Grueso Romero and Shirley Campbell Barr. Forming a small series of poems by these authors, we share our perception of certain discursive regularities, especially based on the debates generated by Lélia Gonzalez’s category of amefricanity. The journey investigates how, over the course of this short series, a network of memories is restructured about the identity of black women in Latin America and the Caribbean. The interpretative itinerary we took led us to read in these poems, from the voices that enunciate in them, the elaboration and (re)affirmation of amefricanity and the sense of unity of Afro-Latin American women that occurs, among other factors, through the recognition of African and Amerindian cultural raits that make up this territory.

Post-abolition and the fate of blacks in Brazil and the Caribbean

André Rodrigues — 2025-10-24

Review of the book organized by Elaine Pereira Rocha, “Many rivers to cross: black migrations in Brazil and the Caribbean”, 2024.

Culturas e identidades nas margens do Atlântico: Caribe, Amazônia e as Áfricas

Alírio Carvalho Cardoso — 2025-10-24

A Revista Brasileira do Caribe chega à maturidade nos seus 25 anos! Vale a pena lembrar que este é o primeiro periódico nacional, na área de História, especializado nas conexões atlânticas que ligam os Brasis, as Américas e as Áfricas a partir do eixo caribenho. A missão da revista continua sendo, de forma transdisciplinar, o incentivo a pesquisas de alto nível que envolvam a História da circulação de pessoas, produtos, ideias, políticas e culturas pela imensa malha oceânica. Um dos objetivos iniciais desse projeto foi sempre favorecer uma visão alternativa da historiografia, que se dedicou ao topos da Formação Nacional. Tal visão se opunha, então, a versões monolíticas e generalistas, ainda, herdeiras do tortuoso processo de unidade, constructo de pensadores dos séculos XIX e XX, cujo resultado foi a obliteração de conflitos, contradições e desigualdades, com o apagamento sistemático das populações marginalizadas (Reis, 2006).