Ethnic nicknaming: ‘negro’ as a term of endearment and vicarious blackness in Argentina
In Argentine colloquial language, calling someone ‘negro/a’ may have two opposite connotations. It can be derogatory and racist, but in other contexts, it can be used as a term of endearment. It is also customary to nickname someone ‘el negro/la negra [+ name]’, with no offense intended or taken. Th...
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2017 |
| País: | Argentina |
| Institución: | Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas |
| Repositorio: | CONICET Digital (CONICET) |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/41129 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/11336/41129 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Etnicidad EtnogÉNesis Mestizaje https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6.1 https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6 |
| Sumario: | In Argentine colloquial language, calling someone ‘negro/a’ may have two opposite connotations. It can be derogatory and racist, but in other contexts, it can be used as a term of endearment. It is also customary to nickname someone ‘el negro/la negra [+ name]’, with no offense intended or taken. These usages are unrelated to actual skin colors; both white and dark skinned people may be affectionately called ‘negro’. This article analyses the origins and meanings of such a habit, by relating it to other forms of vicarious blackness and to the specificities of the vernacular racial formations. In turn, the malleability and instability of the negro allusion is explained as a sign of the country’s disjointed process of ethnogenesis. The last section explores possible implications of the Argentine case for debates on hybridity, nation formation and mixed race studies. |
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