Episode #69
Episode 69: Beyond the Bicentennial — Central American Independence & Indigenous-Afro Sovereignty
Send us Fan Mail Every September 15th, blue and white banners line neighborhood avenues, parades take over city streets, and speeches commemorate Central America’s 1821 break from the Spanish Empire. But behind the textbook version of independence lies an essential question: Independence for whom? In this episode, we challenge the conventional narrative by centering the history of the Caribbean coast. From early 19th-century maritime economies and territorial resistance to the exclusionary state projects of mestizaje , we examine how Afro-descendant and Indigenous communities navigated newly drawn national borders while defending ancestral sovereignty. We also explore the duality of modern transnational identity—how diaspora hubs from New York to Los Angeles maintain deep cultural ties to their homelands while building civic power abroad and dismantling the myth of a monolithic Latinidad. Key Topics Explored: The 1821 Divide: Why the Act of Independence served landed elites and what it meant for coastal communities Maritime Autonomy & Trade: How early Garifuna seafaring shaped regional geopolitical history Transnational Identity: Navigating dual belonging between ancestral shores and the U.S. diaspora Combating Erasure: Overcoming monolithic representations during independence celebrations and Hispanic Heritage Month Recommended Reading: Foundational scholarship on Afro-descendant ethnohistory and territorial activism Tune in to re-examine the history, honor the ancestors who preserved our heritage across borders, and discover why genuine sovereignty extends far beyond a signed piece of parchment. Episode Links & Resources: Subscribe on your favorite podcast app Subscribe to our newsletter Register To Vote Online Garifuna Coalition The Garifuna Experience in NYC The Garifuna, A nation across borders: Essays in Social Anthropology Sojourners of the Caribbean: Ethnogenesis and Ethnohistory of the Garifuna Books by José Francisco Ávila Pan-Garifuna Afro-Latino Power of Pride:: My Quest for Racial, Ancestral, Ethnic and Cultural Identity Garífuna Ancestry: The DNA Quest to Decipher the Garifuna Distant Past
