Blackness and Race Mixture: The Dynamics of Racial Identity in Colombia

Peter Wade focuses on the "racial democracy" of Columbia—specifically the black population of the Chocó province—to explore the significance of culture and class in a racially mixed population. Drawing on extensive anthropological fieldwork, he shows how the concepts of "blackness" and discrimination are deeply embedded in different social levels and contexts—from region to neighborhood, and from politics and economics to housing, marriage, music, and personal identity.