To avoid generalizing and essentialist approaches, the authors were invited to use in their papers 'native' terms adopted by the groups and individuals themselves in their local or regional contexts. In this introduction and in the introduction to Section II, I have chosen the term 'Afrodescendants' to refer to the second generation onward because of the more common use of this term in several countries, along with the combination 'Afro-' or 'African-' + nationality (for example, Afro-Brazilian, Afro-Iranian, African-American, Afro-Indian, Afro-Sri Lankan, Afro-Pakistani (Jayasuriya, 2008), Afro-Portuguese, AfroMalagasy and so on). However, these are not the only terms used by people on the ground to identify themselves or to identify others. In the following epistemological section of the book, several authors discuss concepts or definitions related to blackness. According to Agustín Laó-Montes' chapter, for example, 'both black and Afro-descendants flourish as positive signifiers of blackness and Africanity throughout Latin America'. He adds that the fact that the term 'Afrodescendant' is being incorporated into the languages of governments, transnational institutions and everyday use indicates a 'small political-cultural revolution against racism' as Afro-Latin Americans move from invisibility to public perception.  
Far from being a compact mass of homogenizing narratives, each chapter is a product of original research or comprehensive synthesis that explores evidence regarding specific historical experiences in the diaspora. The chapters also reveal exercises of interdisciplinary dialogue as a tool for the study of Africa and the African diasporas, especially combining history, cultural anthropology, literature, linguistics, art, geography and archaeology, among other disciplines. Finally, the archives visited by our authors are located in different physical places of the global diaspora, as well as on virtual platforms.