“This is our time”: Mayra Santos-Febres on Changing Narratives About Race Across the Americas
Mayra Santos-Febres. Photo by José Arturo Ballester Panelli.
Like many Puerto Rican scholars of my generation, I am a huge admirer of Mayra Santos-Febres. She is one of the most prolific and influential writers, critics, and teachers on the archipelago, and hearing the recent news about her developing a new Afro-Diasporic and Racial Studies Program in Puerto Rico made me smile. Funded by a Mellon grant, this historic program will be the first of its kind in Puerto Rico and across Latin America, and surely influential in the development of Puerto Rican Studies, Latinx Studies, and Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies more broadly—particularly in centering blackness in all of these fields. The Latinx Project also exists thanks to the generosity of a Mellon grant, which recognized the need to invest in programs that transform the dominant conversation on Latinx Studies around race, diversity and the arts. We immediately wanted to reach out to Mayra to learn more about her plans. Mayra Santos-Febres is an award-winning author who has been shaping literary worlds through her novels and poetry, as well as through her editorial work curating and augmenting the work of Puerto Rican writers. She teaches at the University of Puerto Rico, which will house the new program. What follows is an edited version of our interview, which took place over email.
Arlene Dávila (AD): PR has historically envisioned itself as a "nation" bounded from diaspora ‘Ricans, distinct from U.S. conversations around racism, to the point that discussions of race were historically accused of "importing schemas" from the U.S. and racism was understood as a U.S. importation not intrinsic to the island. Similarly, local scholars have historically theorized island cultural production in relation to other nations in Latin America—rather than in relation to larger hemispheric patterns of U.S. imperialism, colonization, and global racialization. Given this, this program promises to be revolutionary in transforming local conversation around race and racism in Puerto Rico and across the diaspora, and beyond. Can you speak to this?
Mayra Santos-Febres (MSF): Our situation as a colonial territory of the United States places us in a very interesting and complex position vis-à-vis the U.S. and its diasporas, and also vis-à-vis Latin America and its diverse ethnic and immigrant communities. I think these are crucial times to revise our stand as Puerto Ricans and Latinxs who live directly at the crossroads of relations between the U.S. and Latin America. Puerto Rico is supposedly part of the U.S., even though during the Trump administration we were relegated to a nuance and as secondary citizens, especially in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. At the same time, Puerto Rico is an island where many Cubans, Venezuelans, U.S. Virgin Island citizens, and people from the Dominican Republic migrate. They are part of our society. We are experiencing a lot of migration from African Americans as well. Our stand as an island/nation/U.S. "territory"/colony is asking for a revision. Personally, I believe that we live in global times. New identities need to participate in the dialogue about civil rights, sovereignty, the need to look past nationalisms and their monolithic discourses on what constitutes citizenship.
As an Afro-Boricua woman, writer, and scholar, I believe that our project can provide a comparative view about race and racialization in the Americas (North and South). Given the fact that Puerto Rico has lived at the crossroads between U.S. and Latin America, we can provide the academic and research tools to promote this much-needed dialogue between African-American and Afro-Latinx communities and their diasporas, create the necessary alliances to promote our common struggle against racism and racial inequality—and we can do it in Spanish and English, in order to eliminate the language and cultural barriers that undermine our common struggles.
AD: Can you describe the current 'state of the field' in regards to the study and appreciation of Blackness on the archipelago, and issues of racism, so that readers can better appreciate the historic, cultural and political significance of developing this new program?
MSF: Afro-descendants in Puerto Rico fall between the gaps of two converging definitions of Blackness and Latinx-ness and therefore, remain invisible to both U.S. and colonial Puerto Rico's public policies. I have to say that Puerto Rican government administrations have used the U.S. current definition of "Latinx'' identity to further marginalize Afro-Puerto Ricans. For instance, administrations of all political denominations use the Latinx minority status to ask for aid for the whole Puerto Rican population, without precise statistical information that includes race. On the island, they use the overrated and old discourse of "mestizaje'' to further marginalize blackness. Most public departments refuse to use the category of "Afro-Latino'' or "Afro-Hispanic'' in their census. They do use the category "African American," which is not the identity with which many Afro-Latinxs, or Latin people of African descent identify themselves. Up to this point, we don't know, for instance, how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected people of African descent on the island. This racist policy does not provide us as Afro-Puerto Ricans with the necessary tools to demand government action nor changes in public policy to benefit our population.
AD: You raise important questions and concerns about the whitewashing politics of Latinidad, which is exactly what critical Latinx Studies seeks to challenge. In this regard, how do you envision this program could also help transform Latinx Studies in the U.S., especially in regards to the need to center issues of race?
MSF: There are so many ways our program can impact Latinx Studies in the U.S. We definitely need a comparative, transnational view centered on blackness and Black Diaspora Studies in both Latinx Studies and African American and Latin American Studies. Let’s take the case of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, for instance. Arturo Schomburg, the creator of Africana historical archives in the U.S. was a Puerto Rican. An Afro-Puerto Rican, son of Mary Joseph, from St. Thomas, who migrated with Schomburg when he was a child. He grew up on the island, moved to New York when he was 17 years old, and became one of the most important bibliophiles and researchers on Africana Studies. His international views on race and the history of people of African descent is heavily influenced on the fact that he spoke Spanish, French, and English, and grew up outside of the U.S. Our program is inspired by the legacy of Arturo Schomburg, but also dialogues with the United Nations proclamation of 2014-2024 as The International Decade for People of African Descent. We worked in close contact with many Caribbean, Latin American, and African American organizations that are acting locally against racism, but with an Afro-global perspective. One of these institutions is the Mellon Foundation, which has given us the funds that the University of Puerto Rico has denied us for decades in order to develop this program. You don’t know how many excuses we have received to argue against the need for academic diversification and decolonization in our institutions! But the work of many Afro-Puerto Rican intellectuals has the chance to be recognized.
AD: You have been one of the most important Black scholars/creators/activists and writers on the island for generations. Can you provide some reflections of some of the most significant changes you've seen in the last decades?
MSF: Thank you. I have NEVER seen so many Afro-Latinxs at universities, holding Ph.Ds, and participating in public discourses about race in my life. Whenever I go, Colombia, Perú, Guatemala, México, Cuba, or Spain, France, etc., I have never in my life seen so many people of African descent sitting where decisions and discourses are being produced. I think this is a major change in the game. Scholars from all over the world are creating global alliances for the support of our projects. In places where racism intersects with gender and economic marginalization, we need even more support. Another thing that has changed is the connection that diasporic Latinxs have with their countries of origin or descent. The incredible level of engagement between diasporic populations with their "mother countries" is what is changing this whole perspective about race. Social media has been used in fantastic ways also. The murder of George Floyd sparked a movement wherever people of African descent were living—be it Portugal, Spain, Cuba, Perú or Puerto Rico. Our closeness to African American institutions and movements, such as the Black Lives Matter Movement, has been crucial in the awakening of discussions about race and racism in Puerto Rico. But I have to say that it all started to change for us after Hurricane Maria. The blatant disregard of the Trump administration after the hurricane, the 4,645 deaths due to the breakdown of communications and electricity, the fast mobilization of the Latinx diaspora to help us survive the disaster help us identify better what needed to be done.
AD: Indeed, we have seen historic levels of activism and unity across Puerto Ricans on the archipelago and the diaspora in these times of crisis. Tell us more about what inspires you in the current moment and in the future?
MSF: I think I am a clinically diagnosed optimist. I don’t want to be cured. I believe this is our time. We have the know-how and the experience to change narratives about race and racial and social equity, especially in the Americas.
AD: Absolutely. Lastly, at TLP we are always intrigued about how scholarship is always tied to larger social movements. Can you describe how you imagine this program to also help affect social policy on the island?
MSF: Of course, we will use this opportunity to create pressure for the much-needed change in public policy and the need to create a comprehensive plan for racial and social inclusion for Puerto Rico. We will use our Afro-Diasporic and Race Studies Program as the apex of a larger movement. Some of our plans for the future include the creation of a Multicultural Comparative Race Research Center (multilingual, of course), where researchers from all of our Afro-Global communities can conduct research virtually and presentially. We are hoping to open a free Legal Clinic for the Support of Victims of Institutional Racism. We will continue our fight for racially inclusive statistics in all public government departments and we will fight for a more inclusive hiring policy of Afro-descendant academics at the 11 campuses of the University of Puerto Rico, among other projects.
AD: This has been such an inspiring conversation and we can’t wait to see this project grow and collaborate with you. I would like to end by asking you to share some of your favorite Black creators/artists/activists, who are contributing to larger conscientization around issues of race and racism on the archipielago and in the diaspora that we should all learn about and follow on social media.
MSF: There are so many! I would start with Georgina Herrera from Cuba. She is our oldest most important Afro-Latinx poet alive.
Angelamaria Dávila, poet and writer from Puerto Rico.
Dahlma Llanos Figueroa, an Afro-Boricua from the Bronx.
Mariposa Fernández, AfroPuertorriqueña poet from the Bronx.
Kianny Lantigua, Afro-Dominican living in the U.S. She is the bomb.
Wingston González, Garifuna poet from Guatemala. He is the winner of the Central American National Poetry Prize. It's the first time in history that an Afro-Guatemalan, Garifuna from Livingston wins this prize.
Manuel Zapata Olivella, Afro-Colombian poet.
Aleyda Fernandez, Afro-Colombian novelist.
Chiqui Vicioso, from the Dominican Republic.
Josefina Báez, performer, writer and theatre director from the Dominican Republic.
Frank Báez, Dominican Republic. He is very active on social media.
Yomaira Figueroa, an Afro-Boricua essayist and scholar from the Bronx, teaching at Michigan State University.
Susana Baca, 3x Latin Grammy award-winning singer and songwriter. She’s an incredible activist.
Shirley Campbell, Afro-Costa Rican writer, actress and poet.
Uriel Cassiani, Afro-Colombian writer and activist from Palenque, Colombia.
Gloriann Sacha Antonetty, founder of Etnica Review, activist and writer from Puerto Rico.
Cezanne Cardona, writer, professor and columnist from Puerto Rico.
Sergio Gutiérrez Negrón, author from Puerto Rico.
Carlos Wynter Melo, writer from Panamá.
I can be here all night and would not finish. There is so much work to be done to recognize and give all Afro-Latinxs the visibility they deserve and express our gratitude for their work and their struggles. We live in a better world because of them. It's our job to make it even better for generations to come.
Mayra Santos-Febres is an award-winning novelist and poet born in Carolina, Puerto Rico in 1966. She studied literature at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) and completed two postgraduate degrees at Cornell University. She has been a guest professor at several universities in Latin America and the United States. She is a professor of creative writing at the UPR-Río Piedras campus and a member of the International and Multicultural Institute at the UPR. To read more, click here.
Arlene Dávila is Professor of Anthropology and Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University and Founding Director of The Latinx Project. She has authored six books among them, Latinx Art: Artists, Markets and Politics. To learn more, visit her website here.