Staging Habla de Negros

In this volume, Nicholas R. Jones analyzes white appropriations of black African voices in Spanish theater from the 1500s through the 1700s, when the performance of Africanized Castilian, commonly referred to as habla de negros (black speech), was in vogue.Focusing on Spanish Golden Age theater and performative poetry from authors such as Calderón de la Barca, Lope de Rueda, and Rodrigo de Reinosa, Jones makes a strong case for revising the belief, long held by literary critics and linguists, that white appropriations and representations of habla de negros language are “racist buffoonery” or stereotype. Instead, Jones shows black characters who laugh, sing, and shout, ultimately combating the violent desire of white supremacy. By placing early modern Iberia in conversation with discourses on African diaspora studies, Jones showcases how black Africans and their descendants who built communities in early modern Spain were rendered legible in performative literary texts.Accessibly written and theoretically sophisticated, Jones’s groundbreaking study elucidates the ways that habla de negros animated black Africans’ agency, empowered their resistance, and highlighted their African cultural retentions. This must-read book on identity building, performance, and race will captivate audiences across disciplines.

“A bold intervention that contributes significantly to the ongoing expansion of early modern race studies beyond the Anglosphere.”—Noémie Ndiaye, Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies, “Staging Habla de Negros: Radical Performances of the African Diaspora in Early Modern Spain is an ambitious monograph that examines the presence of the African diaspora in the Iberian Peninsula through the ‘radical performance’ of black speech, revealing a series of social, cultural and linguistic complexities that until now remained hidden due to the unfounded prejudices of more traditional criticism.”—Victor Sierra Matute, Caliope, “By showing how literary representations can illuminate not only the anti-black racism of white authors and audiences but also the impact and agency of black subjects in the African diaspora, Jones’s book offers an innovative framework and plants the seeds for further research on the Iberian world, demonstrating how much this field can contribute to early modern critical race studies.”—Lisa Voigt, Colonial Latin American Review, “A crucial intervention in discussions about black Africans in Renaissance Europe. Focusing specifically on early modern Spain, Jones offers insightful and nuanced readings of the ways in which (mostly) white Spanish writers appropriated black speech in staged performances and poetry, arguing that such appropriations actually encode black African agency. Importantly, he decenters the author and asks readers to approach these literary forms from the margin to understand how forces beyond the author influence text formation. Jones’s careful, against-the-grain readings open up to readers new archives (and re-present familiar ones from fresh, intriguing perspectives) for the study of black cultural experiences in the Renaissance era.”—Cassander L. Smith, author of Black Africans in the British Imagination: English Narratives of the Early Atlantic World, “Nicholas R. Jones reveals new worlds in this exploration of the black African diaspora in early modern Iberia. Deftly combining literary analysis, performance studies, and diaspora studies, Jones demonstrates how representations of ‘black speech’ document African voices of agency, presence, and resistance as African identities were boldly formed at the heart of Iberian culture. These lively and critically imaginative arguments are destined to become standard points of reference for years to come.”—Josiah Blackmore, author of Moorings: Portuguese Expansion and the Writing of Africa

Nicholas R. Jones is Assistant Professor of Spanish at Bucknell University.