Styling Blackness in Chile

Juan Eduardo Wolf

Description

Chile had long forgotten about the existence of the country's Black population when, in 2003, the music and dance called the tumbe carnaval appeared on the streets of the city of Arica. Featuring turbaned dancers accompanied by a lively rhythm played on hide-head drums, the tumbe resonated with cosmopolitan images of what the African Diaspora looks like, and so helped bring attention to a community seeking legal recognition from the Chilean government which denied its existence.

Tumbe carnaval, however, was not the only type of music and dance that Afro-Chileans have participated in and identified with over the years. In Styling Blackness in Chile, Juan Eduardo Wolf explores the multiple ways that Black individuals in Arica have performed music and dance to frame their Blackness in relationship to other groups of performers—a process he calls styling. Combining ethnography and semiotic analysis, Wolf illustrates how styling Blackness as Criollo, Moreno, and Indígena through genres like the baile de tierra, morenos de paso, and caporales simultaneously offered individuals alternative ways of identifying and contributed to the invisibility of Afro-descendants in Chilean society. While the styling of the tumbe as Afro-descendant helped make Chile's Black community visible once again, Wolf also notes that its success raises issues of representation as more people begin to perform the genre in ways that resonate less with local cultural memory and Afro-Chilean activists' goals. At a moment when Chile's government continues to discuss whether to recognize the Afro-Chilean population and Chilean society struggles to come to terms with an increase in Latin American Afro-descendant immigrants, Wolf's book raises awareness of Blackness in Chile and the variety of Black music-dance throughout the African Diaspora, while also providing tools that ethnomusicologists and other scholars of expressive culture can use to study the role of music-dance in other cultural contexts.

Acknowledgements

Accessing Audiovisual Materials

Introduction: Of Stereotypes and Styling

Part I: Styling Blackness as Afro-descendant

1. The Disappearance of Blackness and the Emergence of Afro-descendants in Chile

2. Tumbe Carnaval: Styling Afro-descendant

3. Self-Understanding as Motivation for Styling Afro-descendant

Part II: Other Ways of Styling Blackness

An Interlude on the Importance of Styling Blackness and the African Diaspora

4. Styling Blackness as Criollo: Dancing the Intimate

5. Styling Moreno: Taking Pride in Decent Steps

6. Styling Blackness as Indígena: Racial Order as Carnivalesque?

7. A Question of Success: Carnivalization and the Future of Styling

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• HISTORY
• MUSIC
• Música tradicional
• Aimara
• África
• Folclore
• América del Sur
• Folk
• Multiple signal classification
• Ethnomusicology
• South America
• Latin America
• History of the Americas
• Folk dance
• Blackness
• Aymara
• Dance
• Bolivia
• Africa
• Andes
• Bomba
• Musique folk
• Folklore

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 30 avril 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780253041173
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

STYLING BLACKNESS IN CHILE
STYLING
BLACKNESS
IN CHILE
Music and Dance in the African Diaspora
Juan Eduardo Wolf
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
Office of Scholarly Publishing
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress.indiana.edu
2019 by Juan Eduardo Wolf
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Wolf, Juan Eduardo, [date] author.
Title: Styling blackness in Chile : music and dance in the African diaspora / Juan Eduardo Wolf.
Description: Bloomington : Indiana University Press, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018023309 (print) | LCCN 2018025313 (ebook) | ISBN 9780253041159 (e-book) | ISBN 9780253041135 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780253041142 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Popular music-Chile-History and criticism. | Blacks-Chile-Music-History and criticism. | Music and race-Chile.
Classification: LCC ML3487.C55 (ebook) | LCC ML3487.C55 W65 2019 (print) | DDC 780.89/96083-dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018023309
1 2 3 4 5 24 23 22 21 20 19
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Accessing Audiovisual Materials
Introduction: Of Stereotypes and Styling
Part I Styling Blackness as Afro-descendant
1 The Disappearance of Blackness and the Emergence of Afro-descendants in Chile
2 Tumbe Carnaval: Styling Afro-descendant
3 Self-Understanding as Motivation for Styling Afro-descendant
Part II Other Ways of Styling Blackness
An Interlude on the Importance of Styling Blackness and the African Diaspora
4 Styling Blackness as Criollo: Dancing the Intimate
5 Styling Moreno: Taking Pride in Decent Steps
6 Styling Blackness as Ind gena: Racial Order as Carnivalesque?
7 A Question of Success: Carnivalization and the Future of Styling
Bibliography
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
E THNOGRAPHY DEPENDS UPON THE KINDNESS OF OTHERS, SO I sincerely thank those kind individuals in Chile who allowed me to spend time with them. Special thanks to Cristian B ez, who answered my first email and whose aid was invaluable in my meeting many of the people mentioned in this book. I also acknowledge the members of the Afro-descendant organizations I spoke with, especially Lumbanga and its past president Azeneth B ez, as well as Oro Negro and its president Marta Salgado. The religious dance troupes, the Morenos de Marconi and Hijos de Azapa, deserve my appreciation for helping me to attend the preparation and celebration of both feasts of the Virgen de las Pe as , with special recognition to Marcos Butr n and Miguel Zegarra for hosting me there. In this space, the aid of Orlando Castillo, Emmanuel Watson, and Fr. Nelson Pe a was also invaluable. For urban carnival expressions, I thank the Caporales San Pedro de Totora and the Morenada Generaci n 90 , each of whom permitted me to document their rehearsals and performances for the 2009 Carnaval Andino. I owe my experiences with highland Indigenous music to Rodomiro Huanca and members of the group Phusiri Marka. Additional thanks to Pedro Medina Sotomayor and Marta Maldonado for making my family feel at home in the apartment they rented to us. All the interviewees listed in the bibliography deserve heartfelt thanks for their attention, as do the many others interviewed but unable to be mentioned.
My academic guides in this process were the always-supportive Drs. John McDowell, Daniel Reed, and Javier Le n. Providing additional guidance at different junctures were the esteemed scholars Dick Bauman and Shane Greene. For valuable Aymara and Quechua language instruction, I am indebted to Taitas Miguel Huanca and Francisco Tandioy, respectively. My scholarly haunt in Arica was the Universidad de Tarapac , thanks to a letter of support from Dr. Marietta Ortega. Historian Dr. Alberto D az Araya and archivist Rodrigo Ruz Zagal made me feel welcome, sharing their knowledge and publications, while Juan Carlos Mamani Morales allowed me to visit his Andean dance classes. In Santiago, I am greatly appreciative of the hospitality and intellectual acumen of Drs. Juan Pablo Gonz lez and Daniel Party.
This work could not have been completed without the financial support at different times from the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), the Institute for International Education (IIE), the Indiana University College of Arts and Sciences, the Indiana University Department of Comparative Literature, the US Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowships Program, the Indiana University Latino Studies Program, the Oregon Humanities Center, and the University of Oregon s Vice President for Research and Innovation.
During the writing of this book, I received additional feedback and support from various sources on parts of this project: at the University of Oregon, thanks to Carlos Aguirre, John Fenn, Lisa Gilman, Michelle McKinley, and Carol Silverman. Discussants Robin Moore and Alejandro Madrid made comments after presentations I made at the Society for Ethnomusicology that helped me clarify a few points. Special thanks to Daniel HoSang for organizing a writing and faculty support group that helped keep the process in focus. Two anonymous readers from Indiana University Press made wonderfully clarifying suggestions that editor Johanna Seasonwein helped me realize. Thanks to editors Janice Frisch and Kate Schramm at Indiana University Press, who made this book production a reality.
Throughout the entire process has been the support of family and friends. My parents, Eduardo and Teresa, raised my sisters and I with a love for Chile, exposing us to its language and culture. My extended family in Chile were always supportive, as have been my in-laws. Most importantly, I am eternally grateful to Jill for her love, patience, and understanding, and to Ceci and Quino for their hugs, which always put things in their place.
ACCESSING AUDIOVISUAL MATERIALS
A UDIOVISUAL MATERIALS ARE AVAILABLE FOR THIS VOLUME AND can be viewed online at https://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/media/g45148gm6z . Information and links for each individual entry follow.
Video 2.1. Oro Negro performing tumbe carnaval for the pasacalle during the Pascua de los Negros celebration, January 6, 2009. Arica, Chile. Percussionists of the comparsa playing one version of the tumbe carnaval rhythm, accelerating the rhythm after a unison break. The Eeee . . . tumbe! chant begins halfway through the excerpt.
https://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/media/366613p19n
Video 2.2. Oro Negro performing tumbe carnaval for the pasacalle during the Pascua de los Negros celebration, January 6, 2009. Arica, Chile. Dancers performing several sequences of steps, including motions that invoke the cutting down of sugarcane.
https://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/media/089227nr7c
Video 2.3. Oro Negro performing tumbe carnaval for the pasacalle during the Pascua de los Negros celebration, January 6, 2009. Arica, Chile. Features percussion break and the hip motion designed to mimic the tumbe itself, that is, the act of knocking down one s dance partner.
https://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/media/k22534gx9k
Video 4.1. Couples dancing valses sung by Diego Baez, accompanied by Segundo Quintana on keyboard and Richard Tajadillo on caj n at Lumbanga s 2009 anniversary celebration. Marcos Butr n and Francisca Rosa Rios dance together, as well as Carmen Baluarte with her father, Carmelo.
https://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/media/999n108429
Video 4.2. Baile de Tierra performed by ONG Oro Negro during the Afro-descendant salute to the authorities, September 18, 2009. Chilean Independence Day parade, Arica, Chile.
https://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/media/x02138kr4v
Video 5.1. Hijos de Azapa dancing in the plaza at the sanctuary of the Virgen de las Pe as during the Fiesta Chica, December 12, 2008. During their sixtieth anniversary, these morenos de paso combined their veteran retired dancers with that year s current troupe. This excerpt features the veteran caporal s solo pass flanked by the veteran troupe playing their matracas.
https://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/media/v83801qs4p
Video 5.2. Hijos de Azapa dancing in the plaza at the sanctuary of the Virgen de las Pe as during the Fiesta Chica, December 12, 2008. During their sixtieth anniversary, these morenos de paso combined their veteran retired dancers with that year s current troupe. This excerpt features that year s caporal s solo pass flanked by that year s current troupe playing their matracas.
https://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/media/227m70nv03
Video 6.1. Morenada Achachis Generaci n 90 on the first day of the Carnaval Andino, February 6, 2009. This opening sequence features the announcer s comments that are included at the opening of chapter 6 as well as the bloc of cholas called Podersosas de Coraz n (Strong of Heart) dancing with matracas in the shape of a heart. Accompanied by the Bolivian Banda Poopo.
https://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/media/v93504sv3p
Video 6.2. Morenada Achachis Generaci n 90 on the first day of the Carnaval Andino, February 6, 2009. Th