Inseventeenth-centurySpanishAmerica,blacklinguisticinterpretersandspiritualintermediariesplayedkeyrolesintheproductionofwritingsaboutblackmenandwomen.FocusingontheAfricandiasporainPeruandthesoutherncontinentalCaribbean,LarissaBrewer-Garc穩auncoverslong-ignoredorlostarchivalmaterialsdescribingtheexperiencesofblackChristiansinthetransatlanticslavetradeandthecolonialsocietieswheretheyarrived.Brewer-Garc穩a’sanalysisofthesematerialsshowsthatblackintermediariesbridgeddivisionsamongthepopulationsimplicatedintheslavetrade,exertinginfluenceovercolonialSpanishAmericanwritingsandemergingracialhierarchiesintheAtlanticworld.Thetranslatedportrayalsofblacknesscomposedbytheseintermediariesstoodinstarkcontrasttothepejorativestereotypescommoninliteraryandlegaltextsoftheperiod.Brewer-Garc穩areconstructsthecontextofthosetranslationsandtracesthecontoursandconsequencesoftheirnotionsofblackness,whichwerecharacterizedbyphysicalbeautyandspiritualvirtue.
