Book Talk with Karma Frierson: Local Color and Blackness in Veracruz, Mexico

The African & African American Studies Department invites you to a book talk with Dr. Karma Frierson on Thursday, March 19, 2026, at 4:30 PM. 

In this talk, Dr. Frierson will discuss her forthcoming book, Local Color, an ethnographic exploration of how Blackness is culturally expressed and understood in the Gulf Coast port city of Veracruz, Mexico. Drawing on research that centers music, dance, and cultural programming, she examines how Afro-Caribbean heritage is understood as collective and deeply rooted, yet not always tied to formal racial identification within Mexico’s broader discourse of mestizaje.

This event offers an opportunity to engage with questions of race, culture, identity, and belonging across national and diasporic contexts, and to reflect on how Blackness is lived and articulated beyond dominant racial frameworks.

This event is sponsored by the African & African American Studies Department.