Event
“Sovereign Joy: Afro-Mexicans Kings and Queens, 1539-1640”
Miguel Valerio - Washington University in St. Louis
Sponsors: Department of History and Department of Spanish and Portuguese
![Professor Miguel Valerio](/sites/default/files/2022-10/Valerio%20Photo_0.png)
Sovereign Joy explores the performance of festive black kings and queens among Afro-Mexicans between 1539 and 1640. This fascinating study illustrates how the first African and Afro-creole people in colonial Mexico transformed their ancestral culture into a shared identity among Afro-Mexicans, with particular focus on how public festival participation expressed their culture and subjectivities, as well as redefined their colonial condition and social standing