Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Program

Hispanic Studies

Supervisor

Juan Luis Suárez

Abstract

Nowadays talking about national, racial or gender identities and its representations is quite difficult due to current global-local dynamics of cultural formation. In that sense, approaching to these issues requires the use of comprehensive theories and complex tools in order to forge a better understanding. My dissertation explores the artistic representation of ‘afro’ in the Hispanic world (or the culture built upon the legacies of Africans and African-descendants in the New World and especially in the Caribbean) during the current stage of globalization. In my dissertation, I argue that afro-artistic contemporary representations are overcoming traditional ones -bound to race as a biological signifier- and instead, they have become complex works where several cultural, transnational and temporal values overlap with each other in their configuration. Through the study of writers, artists and musical groups such as Ricardo Aleixo (Brazil), Yvonne America Truque (Colombia-Canada), Donato Ndongo (Guinea-Spain), ChocQuibTown (Colombia), Voodoo Souljhas (Colombia), Liliana Angulo (Colombia) and Fabio Melecio Palacio (Colombia), among others, I was able to establish a complex initial model to understand contemporary processes of artistic representation. Likewise, under a trans-disciplinary framework (which combines theories of Social Sciences, Humanities and Complexity) I had the opportunity to discuss varied themes such as Afro-Latin American and Caribbean identity, literary and artistic representation, Latin America and globalization, cultural transmission, gender, and Latin American cultural industries among others.

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