De dónde sos

(Black) Argentina and the mechanisms of maintaining racial myths

Bibliographic Data

ID18979009
AuthorsPrisca Gayles (0000-0001-6169-7145, University of Nevada, Reno, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume44
Issue11
Pages2093-2112
Publication date2021-09-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthnic and Racial Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0141-9870 • E-ISSN: 1466-4356
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01419870.2020.1823448
OpenAlexW3092215740
LanguageES
Citations received9
References cited41

Afrodescendant activists in Argentina challenge the belief that there are no Black Argentines, and therefore an impossibility of anti-black racism in the country. Insufficient data on race, the complex separation of the word negro (black) from phenotype, and the myth of Argentina as a “white” nation that falls outside the purview of Latin America’s racialized nations have resulted in a dearth of scholarship on this case. Drawing from twenty-two months of ethnographic fieldwork, this article analyses processes of racialization through micro-level exchanges that reproduce existing racial hierarchies. I argue that “foreignization” is a racialized mechanism that reproduces the pervasive myth of Argentina’s homogeneous whiteness. I illustrate this mechanism through the analysis of three patterns of racialized encounters that were salient during my fieldwork: afrophilia, curiosity, and insecure whiteness. The present data shows that Argentina is an important case to consider in our understanding of race in Latin America

Criminology · Humanities · Mythology · Political science · Racism · Sociology · Theology · Caribbean history, culture, and politics · Gender Studies · Latin American and Latino Studies · Philosophy · Race, History, and American Society

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