Frontiers of Citizenship

Frontiers of Citizenship is an engagingly-written innovative history of Brazils black and indigenous people that redefines our understanding of slavery citizenship and the origins of Brazils racial democracy. Through groundbreaking archival research that brings the stories of slaves Indians and settlers to life Yuko Miki challenges the widespread idea that Brazilian Indians disappeared during the colonial era paving the way for the birth of Latin Americas largest black nation. Focusing on the postcolonial settlement of the Atlantic frontier and Rio de Janeiro Miki argues that the exclusion and inequality of indigenous and African-descended people became embedded in the very construction of Brazils remarkably inclusive nationhood. She demonstrates that to understand the full scope of central themes in Latin American history - race and national identity unequal citizenship popular politics and slavery and abolition - one must engage the histories of both the African diaspora and the indigenous Americas....See More