Identidades in English No 4, December 2014 | Page 48

“Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid”:

Negritude in

Argentina

Omer Freixa
Africanist historian
Professor and researcher, University of Buenos Aires
Argentina

I

n light of fact that Afro-descendants are not
afforded the importance they deserve within
the ethnic composition of Latin America, and
given the reality of their economic and political
marginalization, it is remarkable that such situations are even worse in Argentina, a country that
boasts of its undeniable whiteness and makes no
space for a black presence.
Currently, the homeland of soccer player Diego
Maradona insists, “it contains no blacks.” This
mantra is often repeated, and although there is no
evidence to support the claim, it is a reflection of
the country’s subconsciousness (reproduced even
in H