Scenes from the Shadows

Scenes from the Shadows challenges one of the most enduring myths of Argentine history: that Afro-Argentines had disappeared by the twentieth century. Bringing together leading scholars of race, culture, and history, the volume demonstrates that Afro-descendant communities remained a vital part of Argentine society even as official narratives, public institutions, and popular memory rendered them increasingly invisible. Drawing on oral histories, community newspapers, family archives, ethnography, and archival research, the contributors recover the lives, organizations, and cultural worlds that persisted beneath the surface of Argentina’s self-image as a White, European nation.Focusing on Buenos Aires-home to the country’s largest Afro-descendant population and the epicenter of debates over race and national identity-the book situates Argentina within the broader history of the African diaspora in Latin America and examines how ideologies of Whitening (blanqueamiento), racial classification, urban development, and national identity obscured Afro-descendant presence throughout the twentieth century. The chapters explore Black celebrity and performance culture, tango, Afro-Porteño associational life, community journalism, public employment, migration, gender, and the formation of Afro-descendant social networks, revealing how Afro-Argentines negotiated exclusion while sustaining vibrant traditions of community, creativity, and belonging.More than a recovery of forgotten histories, Scenes from the Shadows offers a new interpretation of modern Argentina itself. It shows how race continued to shape social life even in a society that denied its importance and how Afro-descendant communities endured despite powerful pressures toward erasure. A major contribution to Afro-Latin American studies, Argentine history, and diaspora scholarship, the volume restores Afro-Argentines to their place in the story of twentieth-century Argentina and provides a powerful framework for understanding the relationship between race, memory, and nationhood.ContributorsPaulina L. AlbertoJudith M. AndersonLaura ColabellaRobert J. CottrolAlejandra EgidoAlejandro FrigerioLea GelerLucas GlasmanMiriam GomesChisu Teresa KoEva LamborghiniMarta MaffiaCarmen Yannone