(Mis)representation of Afro-Latinos in Television

Afro-Latino is a term used to describe people who are of both Latin American and African descent. Celia Cruz and former MLB player, Sammy Sosa, brought the term to attention within the (Afro)Latino community during their prime time. Nowadays, BuzzFeed producer Julissa Calderon and Harvard graduate Gabi Thorne are once again raising awareness for the Afro-Latino community. Despite the recent rise of activism, Afro-Latinos still experience unjust treatment. This research paper investigates how European colonization altered the standard of beauty in Latin America, which lead to inequity of Afro-Latino people whose features strongly reflected those of their African ancestors, and today is one of the reasons why some Afro-Latinos are underrepresented in the media (Jha 2015). Furthermore, I conducted a survey at the university campus. The collected data provides supplemental insight as to how people of different ethnicities view beauty standards and how they perceive Afro-Latinos/as. Theoretically, this paper is supported by Jones (2017) and Rodriguez (2000) and explores representation of Afro-Latinos in television such as the CW series Jane the Virgin and the USA series Queen of the South