Panama in Black

“Panama in Black tells the story of Afro-Caribbean Panamanian claims of belonging that challenged dominant notions of citizenship as well as US empire. Kaysha Corinealdi offers us a conceptually rich and finely researched study that demonstrates how activists, intellectuals, politicians, and workers confronted the Panamanian state as well as the US racial regime in the Canal Zone and Jim Crow-era Brooklyn as they pursued a project of African diasporic world making.” - Minkah Makalani, author of In the Cause of Freedom: Radical Black Internationalism from Harlem to London, 1917–1939

“Kaysha Corinealdi’s in-depth research in Panamanian and US archives, both public and private, is unparalleled by any previous scholar. Putting Afro-Caribbean Panamanian perspectives at the center of the story, Corinealdi helps the reader experience abstractions like race, empire, and nation as they were lived: through vivid human encounters. Panama in Black will be one of those rare cherished academic books and will be read eagerly by students and scholars of Caribbean studies, Afro-diasporic studies, and Latin American history alike.” - Lara Putnam, author of Radical Moves: Caribbean Migrants and the Politics of Race in the Jazz Age

"A widely appealing and valuable addition to diaspora studies, Central American and Caribbean historiography, and scholarly understandings of how individuals and groups navigate belonging in and beyond the nation." - Elizabeth Manley, The Americas

"Panama in Black uncovers the complexities of Afro-Caribbean Panamanian identity across class, gender, and generational lines. Corinealdi’s account of Afro-diasporic world making reveals an ongoing practice in which Afro-Caribbean migrants shaped ideas of citizenship on the isthmus and throughout the Americas. As a result, this book is essential reading for those interested in the history of Caribbean migrations, the African diaspora, the Canal Zone, Panamanian nation formation, and citizenship in Latin America." - Takkara Brunson, H-Caribbean

"Panama in Black demonstrates some of the reasons researchers, including myself, were drawn to these immigrants and their descendants. . . . I salute Kaysha Corinealdi for this latest addition to the bookshelf and look forward to more." - Michael Conniff, ReVista

"This is a terrific book. Scholars of not only the African diaspora but other diasporas in different geographic contexts and historical periods would benefit from taking it very seriously. ... [Corinealdi's] sophisticated grasp of the much broader concerns of diasporic studies should make this short book a must for those studying regions beyond the Americas."

"Corinealdi’s book is a splendid addition to renewed studies of the Afro-Caribbean experience in the Greater Caribbean Basin and the diaspora." - Kirwin R. Shaffer, English Historical Review

"Overall, Panama in Black is highly readable and very good to follow, no matter the readers prior knowledge. It combines a highly specific perspective and very general questions and is by this a contribution to many different scientific debates, not only on US- or Panamanian history. . . . [I]t is a book you clearly have to read if you are interested in Panamanian history, racism, diasporic world making or intersectional perspectives on these topics." - Mario Faust-Scalisi, Iberoamericana

". . . in foregrounding a cosmopolitan citizenship, one that is more inclusive than its eugenicist, blood-based rival, Panama in Black adds an important contribution to research in African diaspora and Black Studies, as well as to the political history of Panama, the Caribbean, the US, and the western hemisphere at large." - Christian Uwe, Migrating Minds

"Panama in Black brings attention to the long and complex history of diasporic world making among Afro-Caribbeans, thus contributing importantly to the scholarship that explores the forging of diaspora by peoples of African descent in the Western hemisphere. The book will be an essential reference for scholars in Anthropology, History, Latin American and Caribbean studies, and African Diaspora studies." - Carla Guerrón Montero, New West Indian Guide