Color-Blind Nationalism, US Empire, and the Conundrum of Race in the Late Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Spanish Caribbean

Abstract

This essay reviews the following works: Borderland on the Isthmus: Race, Culture, and the Struggle for the Canal Zone. By Michael E. Donoghue. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2014. Pp. ix + 333. $25.95 paper. ISBN: 9780822356783. Scripts of Blackness: Race, Cultural Nationalism, and U.S. Colonialism in Puerto Rico. By Isar P. Godreau. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2015. Pp. ix + 291. $35.00 paper. ISBN: 9780252080456. The Mulatto Republic: Class, Race, and Dominican National Identity. By April J. Mayes. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2014. Pp. viii + 187. $69.95 cloth. ISBN: 9780813049199. Cuba’s Racial Crucible: The Sexual Economy of Social Identities, 1750–2000. By Karen Y. Morrison. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2015. Pp. ix + 327. $32.00 paper. ISBN: 9780253016546.