Alejandro de la Fuente

Alejandro de la Fuente is the Robert Woods Bliss Professor of Latin American History and Economics and Professor of African and African American Studies and History at Harvard University. He serves as the founding Director of the Afro-Latin American Research Institute at the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research and chairs the Cuba Studies Program at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS). He is also Senior Editor of the journal Cuban Studies.

His research specializes in comparative slavery, race relations, law, art, and Atlantic history. Key interests include the intersection of racial politics and visual culture in Latin America, Afro-diasporic identity formation, and the legal histories of slavery in Cuba, Virginia, and Louisiana. His scholarship actively bridges historical analysis with contemporary debates on inequality.

De la Fuente’s publications emphasize Afro-Latin American visual thought, tracing racial representation from colonial portraiture to modern activism. Recent works explore abolition-era resistance, Black mobilization through art, and the negotiation of identity in Caribbean and Brazilian contexts.

Major Recognition:

• Southern Historical Association's Best Book in Latin American History (2003) for A Nation for All: Race, Inequality, and Politics in Twentieth-Century Cuba

As Director of the Afro-Latin American Research Institute, he leads initiatives documenting African-descended communities in Latin America. His curatorial work includes three major exhibits: Queloides, Drapetomanía, and Diago, examining race in Cuban contemporary art.