We invite proposals for a volume in the MLA Options for Teaching series entitled Teaching Afro-Brazilian Literature in a Diasporic Context, edited by Cristina Ferreira Pinto-Bailey and Paulo Dutra.

The essays in the volume will examine the significant body of literature by Afro-Brazilian poets, fiction writers, and playwrights within a diasporic context. In other words, these essays will employ a comparative perspective and a variety of critical approaches to examine the literary production of Black Brazilian authors vis-à-vis that of other writers of African descent across the Americas and in other parts of the world, as well as in relation to the works of writers in Lusophone African countries. Essays on music and cinema are also welcome if they engage works by Afro-Brazilian writers, musicians, or movie makers (i.e., directors, screenwriters, producers).

The proposals should address the volume’s main objectives, which are threefold: to bring to an English-language audience critical examinations of important Black Brazilian writers whose contributions to their national literature has often been overlooked or minimized in their own country, to expand the corpus of global Africana literature, and to contribute to an increased understanding of the historical and contemporary experiences of the African diaspora as seen comparatively through their literatures.

Suggested topics include but are not restricted to the following:

1. Themes and Approaches

• 1.1. Afro-Brazilian Literature and Authors and the Brazilian Canon

• 1.2. Pioneering Voices: Maria Firmina dos Reis, Lima Barreto, Carolina Maria de Jesus, and Others

• 1.3. Twenty-First-Century Afro-Brazilian Writers

2. Theoretical Approaches

• 2.1. Black Brazilian Intellectuals: Abdias do Nascimento, Lélia González, Djamila Ribeiro, and Others

• 2.2. The Poetics of Racial Identity

• 2.3. Black Brazilians and African Heritage(s)

• 2.4.  Literature and Other Arts

• 2.5.  The Intersection of Race and Gender

3. Geo-Cultural Dialogues

• 3.1. Afro-Brazilian Literature and Lusophone African Literatures

• 3.2. Afro-Brazilian Literature vis-à-vis Afro-Latin American and Caribbean Literatures

• 3.3. Afro-Brazilian Literature and African American Literature

Please submit a 350–500-word abstract and a short biography or CV to Cristina Pinto-Bailey (pintobailey20@gmail.com) or Paulo Dutra (pdutra@unm.edu) by 30 September 2022.

Authors will be notified of initial acceptance by late November 2022. Pending peer review of the volume prospectus, finished essays of 3,500–4,500 words will be due by 30 June 2023. Queries are welcome, including requests for feedback on ideas.