Alfonso Múnera was born in Cartagena de Indias. He has written articles on the history of the Colombian Caribbean in national and international magazines, and is the director of a series of ten short films, accompanied by educational booklets on the history and culture of Afro-descendants from Cartagena, a project entitled Cartagena de Indias. Piel de cimarrones. Two of his most important books are El fracaso de la nación. Región, clase y raza, 1717-1821 and Fronteras imaginadas. La construcción de las razas y de la geografía en el siglo XIX colombiano. He received a doctorate in Latin American and Caribbean History from the University of Connecticut, United States, in 1995, and was Dean of the Faculty of Human Sciences, Vice-rector for Research, and Director of the International Institute of Caribbean Studies at the University of Cartagena, an institution that he is still linked to as a lecturer on the History of Education doctoral programme, in addition to other activities.