From Invisibility to Affirmative Action: Afro-Argentines in Contemporary Argentina

192 Pages·2014·0.88 MB·English

FROM INVISIBILITY TO AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: AFRO-ARGENTINES IN CONTEMPORARY ARGENTINA

A Thesis
submitted to the Faculty of the
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
of Georgetown University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
degree of
Master of Arts in
Development Management and Policy

By

Estefanía A. Luraschi, B.A.

Buenos Aires, Argentina
March 28th, 2014
Copyright 2014 by Estefanía A. Luraschi
All Rights Reserved

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FROM INVISIBILITY TO AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: AFRO-ARGENTINES IN CONTEMPORARY ARGENTINA

Estefanía A. Luraschi, B.A.

Thesis Advisor: Luciano Andrenacci, Ph.D.

ABSTRACT

This research studies the activities of Afro-Argentine organizations regarding affirmative action
policy formulation in Argentina focusing on the context, key factors, developments, and opinions
of the stakeholders. The study builds upon the hypothesis that current cultural activities and
political pressure groups of the Afro Community in Buenos Aires, Argentina are lobbying for
and having a positive effect on affirmative action policy planning in Argentina at the present
time. Research on this topic is important not only for understanding how affirmative action gains
importance on the public and government agendas in Argentina, but also in the broader context
of political agenda setting and interest group agency, potentially for other Afro-descendant
groups in the rest of Latin America and the world. The method rests on semi-structured
interviews with key stakeholders and activists of the most important Afro-Argentine civil society
organizations in Argentina, based in Buenos Aires city as well as suburban Buenos Aires. The
Afro-Argentine community is achieving agenda setting and affirmative action policy formulation
through seeking historical and cultural recognition, using opportunities that arise from
globalization, the rise of multiculturalism and government openness, and employing cultural and
rights-based approaches to position themselves. The study finds that, in spite of the group’s
invisibility, the state is appropriating the strategies and receiving affirmative action proposals in
the form of compensatory policies, individual-type (antidiscrimination) and collective (upward
mobility and equal opportunity) measures. Antidiscrimination measures and compensatory
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policies of recognition have been implemented; however there is no evidence of the existence of
the more substantial “quota” collective-type policies. The organizations are in the process of
proposing these. The research also finds that discrimination and whitening persist, and identifies
tensions both in the definitions of a general Afro-Argentine identity and the debate over equality
and difference by the Afro community in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Judging from proposals that
have not yet made it onto the government agenda, and the stakeholders’ pessimism and doubt on
the successful passing of affirmative action policy, it remains unclear whether Argentina will
move beyond recognition and antidiscrimination measures in the near future.

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If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a megalopolis to raise a thesis candidate. This paper
would not exist at all if it weren’t for a very large group of people who have supported me,
encouraged me, advised me, fed me, contained me, read and edited/commented my work, and
simply believed in me when I did not.

First I would like to thank my advisor Luciano Andrenacci, whose expertise, dedication, advice,
and patient guidance throughout all stages of research were not only a constant source of
encouragement, but also kept my work on the steadiest of tracks.

With the risk of forgetting someone, I’d like to thank especially: My family, near and far –
Clericis, Luraschis, Suayas; my adopted families: the Lagorios, Sanchez Acostas, Lilliecreutz-
Bueno; my coworkers and bosses; unofficial advisors, Ramlah and Stephen; my fellow
investigators who invariably became my advisors and moral supporters: Marcia, Valentina, Kat,
Ashley, Laura, and Victor; The Johnson-Rosses; The Delgadinos, and Neshetián, who gave me
so much support and so many insights; contributors and interviewees, and all members of the
Afro-Argentine community; all those who gave me feedback, tips, ideas, and suggestions along
the way; and my moral supporters: Cruz, Marian.

A special thank you goes to everyone who patiently and unquestioningly understood my random,
unannounced bouts of needing total seclusion; but maybe even more importantly, those who
miraculously dropped everything and were there immediately when I suddenly needed human
contact once again.

Most of all, I thank my parents and sister for their constant love, unwavering support and
attentive reading and editing. Thank you for always being my biggest fans.

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Table of Contents

Foreword ......................................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 2
1. Historical and Theoretical Considerations .................................................................................. 6
1.1 Understanding Afro-Argentina: Origins, Exclusion, and Community ..................................... 6
The Term Afro-descendant ......................................................................................................... 6
From Slavery to Emancipation ................................................................................................... 7
African Influences in Argentina ................................................................................................ 15
Racism and Othering: Concepts, Invisibilization, Whitening, and Mestizaje in Argentina ..... 21
Racism ....................................................................................................................................... 22
Race, Class, and Inequality ................................................................................................... 25
Mestizaje ............................................................................................................................... 28
Invisibilization and Whitening through Mestizaje as a Form of Racism.............................. 30
Racism in Argentina ................................................................................................................. 34
Multicultural Citizenship and Afro-Argentines ........................................................................ 43
The Impulse of Durban 2001 .................................................................................................... 49
Constructions of Identity ........................................................................................................... 53
1.2. Making it Matter and Making it Count: Agenda Setting and Affirmative Action ................ 57
Agenda Setting: Theoretical Overview ..................................................................................... 57
Affirmative Action: Concepts, Types, Controversy, and Examples ......................................... 61
Affirmative Action Explained............................................................................................... 61
The Origins of Affirmative Action ....................................................................................... 63
Controversy ........................................................................................................................... 70
Some Country Examples....................................................................................................... 76
Anti-discrimination and Affirmative Action in Argentina ....................................................... 88
The Afro-Argentine Community’s Moves Towards Visibility ................................................ 96
2. Afro-Argentine Organizations and Affirmative Action ............................................................ 98
2.1. The Afro-Argentine Organizations ........................................................................................ 98
Description of the Organizations ............................................................................................ 103
Racism and Discrimination ..................................................................................................... 112
The importance of education on history and culture .............................................................. 114
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Identity .................................................................................................................................... 116
View of the Government and Politics ..................................................................................... 119
Policy: Successes and Shortcomings ...................................................................................... 124
Approach to Legislation and Rights ....................................................................................... 128
Gender Issues .......................................................................................................................... 130
Additional Organizations ........................................................................................................ 131
2.2. Affirmative Advances .......................................................................................................... 132
A Policy Blueprint: APOAA’s Youth Conference and Assembly ......................................... 132
Reaching out to the State ........................................................................................................ 143
Partnering with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ................................................................. 143
Partnering with the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security ......................... 145
Regularization of Migrants from Senegal and the Dominican Republic ............................ 146
Commemoration and Recognition: Afro-Argentine and African Culture Day and Paseo de
las Tres Culturas ................................................................................................................. 147
3. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 149
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................... 164

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Foreword

This research paper on affirmative action for Afro-Argentines began, as most research
does, with existential questions. Cheesy as it may be to say it, I’m a UN child, so
multiculturalism was the air that I breathed every single day at school, during extracurricular
activities, at every birthday party and every playdate. Being confronted with others who were
different, and thinking about my own difference, was a daily exercise, but always with an
emphasis that in spite of all those variations in cultures, languages, colors, experiences,
essentially we were all the same. One community, one world. Sappy, right?
I’m writing this because after all the privilege and corniness, I believe this background
shaped my thinking and curiosity. First, there’s the idea that difference and sameness don’t have
to be mutually exclusive. Second, this experience left me with an ever-present desire to know
where I’m from, to retrace the many migrations of the different branches of my family, to give
an easy straightforward answer to the question “where are you from.” I’m slowly starting to
understand that this is a lifelong venture. And lastly, it made me curious about the movement of
people, about diaspora, about migration. Through the experiences of my family, I was always in
intense contact with the Hungarian diaspora, as my grandparents were part of this great
movement of Hungarians to other parts of the world, in this case Argentina. The country literally
received them with open arms, like it did so many other migrants and refugees. The ties of the
Hungarian community in Argentina – la colectividad húngara – with Hungary continue to be
very strong, with an emphasis on preserving language, tradition, history, nationalism, ancestry.
Then there’s the Polish community, the Russian, Armenian, German, Swiss, Italian, Spanish, and
so many others.
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One caught my attention in particular: the Afro-Argentine community, one that is often
dismissed. Why was it not given the same place as the other communities I mentioned, as having
built up this country? Especially considering an important part of that community was here long
before any of the others, and considering the legacy of slavery? What was specific about the
different moments of the African diaspora to Argentina, and why was it shrouded in so much
mystery? What dynamics led to the upsurge of the community in the past few years, and how is
it organizing to gain rights and recognition? How does this look in terms of policy? These
questions motivated me search for some explanations.

Introduction

This research studies the activities of Afro-Argentine organizations regarding affirmative
action policy formulation and its environment in Argentina in order to find out the context, key
factors, developments, and opinions of the stakeholders. The investigation aims to contribute to
the growing body of literature on public policy and Afro-descendants in Argentina by exploring
and gaining a better understanding of the mechanisms of grassroots “visibilization” strategies
and agenda insertion by stakeholders, in what way this agenda is present at the state level, and
what the implications for affirmative action are, so that future minority and state agenda setting
may benefit from this example.
The present study builds upon the hypothesis that the Afro community in Buenos Aires,
Argentina has reappeared recently until the culmination of this paper in 2014, and that current
cultural activities and political pressure groups are lobbying for and having a positive effect on
affirmative action policy formulation in Argentina at the present time.
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Through seeking historical and cultural recognition, aiming for a break with the way
Argentine history is perceived and taught, and by using a constellation of opportunities created
by globalization, the minority rights revolution, the rise of multiculturalism, and government
openness, Afro-Argentine groups are employing a combination of cultural and rights-based
approaches to position themselves and are succeeding in setting an agenda, having yet to
articulate demands with more agreement among stakeholders.
In spite of a long tradition of invisibility, as the investigation shows, the state is
appropriating and accepting the visibilization strategies of the Afro-descendant organizations in
their effort to formulate affirmative action policies. This has two sides: on the one hand, the
agency and activities of organizations carried out over the course of the years, and on the other,
the openness of the state to these themes through multicultural, globalization, and minority rights
processes.
The research finds that recognition of the contributions of African descendants to the
edification of Argentina is understood as a form of compensatory affirmative action, and that the
proposed policies reflect both individual-type (antidiscrimination) and collective-type (upward
mobility, equal opportunity) measures. While there is evidence of two laws recognizing Afro-
Argentines (African-Argentine Culture Day on October 11th as a provincial law of Buenos Aires
province, and Afro-Argentine and Afro Culture Day on November 8th as a national law), there is
no evidence of the implementation of the more substantial collective-type policies. So far, these
have been proposed through a network of organizations, the APOAA (Permanent Assembly of
Afro-Descendant Organizations of Argentina) and presented to the Ministry of Social
Development.
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