About the Author

Christen A. Smith is associate professor of anthropology and African and African diaspora studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the author of Afro-Paradise: Blackness, Violence, and Performance in Brazil and the coeditor of Black Feminist Constellations: Dialogue and Translation across the Americas.

Bethnia N. F. Gomes is the daughter of Beatriz Nascimento. She is a former principal dancer with the Dance Theatre of Harlem and is a dance teacher and choreographer at African American dance institutions. She is the founder of the Beatriz Nascimento Foundation, which promotes Afro-Brazilian arts and education.

Archie Davies is lecturer in geography and fellow of the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at Queen Mary University of London. His books include A World without Hunger: Josue de Castro and the History of Geography.