Sembe Publishes Article
Karina Sembe, doctoral student in Hispanic Language & Literatures, has published an article in Atlantic Studies. Her piece is titled “On the Brink of Sovereignty: Maroon Chief Alonso de Illescas and Vernacular Agency in the Colonial Atlantic.” Karina tells us:
“I am grateful for an opportunity to showcase my cross-disciplinary research in a major peer-reviewed publication like Atlantic Studies, known for its global scope and rigorous selection process. Arguments presented in this paper complicate some of the dominant narratives in critical race theory, where individual upward mobility may be either viewed as resistance by default or dismissed as conformism due to the lack of collectivist incentives. I attempt to shift the focus from the ideological and ethical framing of Black agency to the ways in which African diasporic mobility is enabled by existing governance structures and mediated by the language of the inherently biased archive. I hope this paper makes a contribution to nuanced conversations on power and freedom in the Americas.”