Some months ago, on this blog, I
reviewed the novel Perla by Carolina de Robertis, an Oakland neighbor whom
I’ve not yet met in person. Her “Dirty
War” fiction, set in Argentina,
is a valuable read, as is her translation of Roberto Ampuero’s The Neruda Case, 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, 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 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 recalls Buenos
Aires’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, 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. 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.
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