Sheryl Felecia Means
Greenleaf Visiting Library Scholar
Post Doctoral Fellow, Africana Studies
The University of New Mexico
Sheryl Felecia Means received a Greenleaf Visiting Library Award in Summer 2019 to use UNM’s special collections to further her research related to “The Conflicting Politics of Costa Rica/Guatemala/Nicaragua/Panama & Their Afro/Indigenous Citizens, 1970s – 1990s.” Shortly after her award, Means accepted a post-doctoral fellowship in Africana Studies at UNM.
Title of Research : The Conflicting Politics of Costa Rica/Guatemala/Nicaragua/Panama & Their Afro/Indigenous Citizens, 1970s – 1990s.
There are significant Afro-descendant and Indigenous populations across Latin America. In Central America, specifically, racial and ethnic identification has and does impact political participation, social and economic mobility. However, these same racial and ethnic groupings can be leveraged in political processes to re-determine access, socioeconomic, and political ascension. Means’ archival study reviews several collections of Central American political ephemera covering the 1970s to the 1990s, and focuses on evidence of Afro/Indigenous politicians and movements within the Southwest Research Center (SWRC) holdings. Her presentation examines eight political figures, movements, and moments during the era, highlights the Afro/Indigenous politic, and offers new research directions for archival research through the SWRC.
