Memory and ethnic leadership among Afro descendants and Africans in Argentina

MONKEVICIUS, PAOLA CAROLINA; MAFFIA, MARTA M.

African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal

Taylor and Francis

Año: 2014 vol. 7 p. 188 - 198

1752-8631

Several academic approaches on African and Afro descendant population in Argentina have made reference to the "oblivion" of the black component in the creation of an ethnically white and homogeneous national collective.  The present work intends to rethink this issue in light of an anthropology of the memory that promotes a critical analysis of the construction of an African past as diacritic of ethnic identification and interaction strategy related to the largest society, paying special attention to the actions of ethnic leaderships in the Afro community.  In other words, we consider the processes of creation, establishment and standardisation of a social memory from an African origin by the ethnic entrepreneurs. For that purpose, we carry out a qualitative approach resorting to the techniques characteristic of anthropological ethnographic work.