I need an abstract and a title. I may do something about Latin American and Latin Americanists’ exceptionalism on the issue of race. Research advances slowly because everybody is stuck in some eddy fighting it out over who is more and who is less “racist,” or exactly how dark one has to be to be considered “Black” in a given country.
How do we think about race without thinking in an exceptionalist way? How can we legitimize discussions of race that do not rely on exceptionalism? I ask these questions because I see darkly that to be considered legitimate and “sensible,” one is required to accept exceptionalism.
I could not do a paper like that without the work of Denise Ferreira da Silva since she is a critic of exceptionalism while also being Latin American. She is endowed with authenticity whereas alone, I would be accused of imposing the U.S. interpretive lens which allegedly exists.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 
The first sentence of second paragraph formulates the central problem beautifully. How to think about race beyond exceptionalism. That could be the germ of a title: “Race Beyond Exceptionalism.”
I sent you abstract that I hope works for now, although it does not feel finished. Notes to self to add to it: José Piedra and Mignolo 2005.