"La melodía de los cantos creoles del Set-Up en la ciudad de Bluefields" by Nydia Taylor and Wellene Campbell, published in Wani, documents the traditional Afro-Creole funeral practice known as the Set Up in the neighborhoods of Bluefields, Nicaragua. Based on oral history and testimonies from cultural bearers, the article explores the rituals of mourning—including singing, food preparation, body care, and communal labor—as expressions of ancestral solidarity and Afro-descendant cultural identity. It highlights the spiritual, social, and musical elements of the Set Up and traces how modernization, economic hardship, and migration have led to the erosion of these practices, while some elders continue to advocate for their preservation.
Germán Romero Vargas, Las sociedades del Atlántico de Nicaragua en los siglos XVII y XVIII (Managua: Fondo de Promoción Cultural-BANIC, 1995) offers a comprehensive historical and ethnographic study of Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast during the 17th and 18th centuries. Drawing on geography, archaeology, and archival sources, Romero Vargas examines the impact of European colonization, Indigenous resistance and adaptation, British influence, and the formation of multiethnic societies. The book traces shifting power structures, social hierarchies, and labor systems across diverse Indigenous groups, while also addressing the roles of African-descended populations and the histories of slavery in the region.
Lord Rhaburn is a pioneering Belizean musician known for his vibrant contributions to calypso, soca, reggae, and brukdown music. As the founder of the Lord Rhaburn Combo, he played a key role in shaping Belize’s musical identity and bringing local sounds to national and international stages. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, his band became a household name, blending infectious rhythms with social commentary and cultural pride. In addition to performing, he established the Lord Rhaburn Music Awards to celebrate and uplift Belizean artists.
Javier L. Wallace's "Lost in Translation" connects the ways Black Panamanians of West Indian ancestry used their athletic talents within a de jure racially segregated US Panama Canal Zone to forge opportunities with HBCU athletic programs in the US South. Black physical educators and coaches forged these connections to assist Black Panamanian youth in circumventing the discriminatory treatment within the PCZ and the Republic of Panama. Also, this essay focuses on the decline of the transnational athletic pipelines due to the reversion of parts of the PCZ and the closure of the predominately Black segregated schools. This essay argues that translating community names and institutions from English to Spanish during the reversion was part of a larger Panamanian mestizo nationalism project that was forcing a singular Spanish-speaking Panamanian ideology, which played a significant role in the pipeline’s decline.
June Beer’s poem “Love Poem” is a powerful declaration of love that expands beyond the personal to embrace national and collective belonging. Written in Miskito Coast Creole, the poem begins as a response to a request for a traditional love poem but shifts to center love for Nicaragua and its diverse peoples—Black, Miskito, Sumu, Rama, and Mestizo. Beer ties romantic love to revolutionary struggle, honoring the labor and sacrifice of those defending the country's freedom. In doing so, the poem redefines love as both intimate and political, grounded in solidarity, sovereignty, and a vision of a liberated future.
Mangoes in the Morning (2019) is a bilingual children’s book by Nydia Taylor that recounts her childhood memories growing up in Corn Island, Nicaragua. Illustrated with Taylor’s own handcrafted arpilleras, the book preserves Afro-Caribbean cultural memory through both narrative and textile art.
Nicole Ramsey's "Marketing Culture and the Belizean Nation" (Callaloo, 2024) examines how the Belizean nation and national belonging are constructed in the representational politics of Belizean Belikin Beer campaign advertisements. In 2012, Belikin Beer released a series of commercials showcasing the “culture of Belize,” while addressing themes related to Belizean national identity, labor, heritage, and commemoration. Contrary to national constructions of Belize as a multicultural and plural society, the Belizean identity performed in Belikin’s campaign located Belize within an ambiguous regional geography, portraying it as a unique site within Central America and the broader Circum-Caribbean that provides the space for the reconciliation of diasporic and transnational Black and Indigenous identities. Belize provides a complex framework for the examination of Central American Caribbean identities and the utilization of Blackness and Indigeneity by the tourism industry. In tourism industry-driven cultural projects, competing ideals of Belizean identity, Belizean Blackness(es) and Indigeneities are heightened in new media and cultural productions that draw on the peculiarities of Belizean ethnic relations and ideology of national identity.
Marton Robinson is a Costa Rican artist whose interdisciplinary practice is rooted in his background in Physical Education, Visual Communication, and an MFA from the University of Southern California. His work critically examines representations of Black identity in art history, mainstream culture, and official national narratives, with a focus on Costa Rica. Influenced by African-American traditions and Afro-Latinx experiences, Robinson uses irony and rhetorical strategies to question racial hierarchies and challenge the legacies of colonialism embedded in everyday life. His work contributes to contemporary conversations on the African Diaspora and has been exhibited at institutions such as The Getty Center, Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo, Le Palais de Tokyo, and the 21st Biennial Contemporary Art Sesc Videobrasil.
Rodwell Morgan's Meet Corn Island!: The History of Corn Island in Relation to the Ebenezer Baptist Church (Kearny: Morris Publishing, 1996) traces the intertwined histories of Corn Island and the Ebenezer Baptist Church, one of its most influential institutions. Through historical narrative, personal reflection, and church records, Morgan documents the role of faith, education, and community leadership in shaping the island’s Afro-descendant identity. The book highlights the church’s foundational presence in Corn Island’s cultural and social life, offering a unique perspective on the island’s development through the lens of religious and communal history.
Memories of Mosquitia by Marc Rangel is a memoir that offers a personal and historical account of life on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast, particularly in the region known as Mosquitia. Born an expatriate U.S. citizen in Bluefields, Rangel reflects on his upbringing in a community shaped by Afro-Caribbean, Miskito, and Creole cultures. Through vivid storytelling, he captures the complexities of identity, colonial legacies, and the everyday experiences of coastal life. The book intertwines personal anecdotes with broader historical narratives, providing insight into the social and political dynamics of the region. Published in 2009 by Xlibris Corporation, Memories of Mosquitia serves as both a tribute to a unique cultural landscape and a critical reflection on the forces that have shaped it.
