Afro Uruguay: Aspiring to the Screen

Some months ago, on this blog, I reviewed the novel Perla by Carolina de Robertis [1], an Oakland neighbor whom I’ve not yet met in person. Her “Dirty War” [2] fiction, set in Argentina [3], is a valuable read, as is her translation of Roberto Ampuero’s The Neruda Case [4], but she’s just brought another intriguing project to my attention: early next year, thanks partly to a Fulbright fellowship, she and her wife Pamela Harris will be relocating to Montevideo [5], Uruguay, to produce a documentary film called Afro Uruguay: Forward Together, about that country’s underappreciated black community.

I’ve written peripherally about this topic myself, primarily touching on Uruguay’s Carnaval celebrations and Montevideo’s outstanding Museo del Carnaval [6] that helps put them into context – especially for visitors who don’t have the good fortune to visit at that time of the year. I don’t pretend to have any specialist knowledge, but it’s probably fair to say that the Afro-Uruguayan heritage of candombe music and dance [7] recalls Buenos Aires [8]’s Afro-Argentine traditions before they were swamped by the massive European immigration of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the memorable phrase of historian George Reid Andrews [9], the Argentine capital’s black population was “forgotten, but not gone.”

Producing a documentary is a challenging and expensive proposition, so De Robertis and Harris are seeking additional funding of US$15,000 through a Kickstarter campaign for tax-deductible pledges [10]. With 22 days to go, they have obtained pledges of roughly US$2,000. Pledges as small at US$1 are welcome and, with the prestige of Fulbright behind it, this project has a quality pedigree. I will be submitting my own modest pledge to support this investigation of the Southern Cone’s cultural diversity, and I encourage my readers to do so as well.