Afroargentina. Essay on systematic whitening
The historically dominant narrative of the Argentinian nation mainly describes it as white and of European descent, and excludes any reference to Africa in the formation of its identity. This narrative is based on the idea of opposition between civilization and barbarism. It led to the creation and constant affirmation of colonial mechanisms aimed at making black people invisible and systematically oppressing their existence for the past 200 years.
With the work ‘Afroargentina’, Nicolas Janowski proposes to reconsider Afro-roots by critically examining the dominant white perspectives that often portray them as the exotic ‘Other’. ‘Afroargentina’ is a historical review of how this nation was built and sheds light on the systematic processes of cultural assimilation of black people in Argentinian history. The work explores themes of structural racism and deconstruction of the idea that blackness does not exist in the Argentinian context, looking specifically at privileges based on race, class and gender.
