The Afro-Mexicans

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 10 April 2016

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Many black people in Mexico’s remote Costa Chica area near the Pacific ocean feel ignored and neglected by the state. A lot of Mexicans don’t even know the Afro-Mexicans exist. Outside their towns, they often get stopped by police who don’t believe they can be Mexican. Some have even been deported, despite having Mexican ID papers. So who are the black Mexicans? Lucy Duran meets members of this ethnic community that is struggling for identity and recognition. They use their culture, such as the characteristic Dance of the Devils or Chilena music, to assert their identity and fight for their rights. Activists want the state to accept black people as a separate ethnic minority, distinct from indigenous people, but with the same rights. It is not only about being able to hold your head high. It’s also about money. Those fighting for official recognition say that they’re not eligible for the special kind of financial support that similarly isolated indigenous communities get. They blame their poverty on this lack of funding. Dr Lucy Duran meets black Mexicans ranging from a cowboy to a singer-songwriter and explores how they identify themselves, why even those who do not obviously look as though they are of African descent describe themselves as black, and why their identity has become a political issue. Producer: Arlene Gregorius Consultant and translator: Dr Sergio Navarrete Pellicer (Image: Paula Maximiana Laredo Herrera and Tulia Serrano Arellanes, council workers in Santiago Llano Grande, a black town in the Costa Chica area of Oaxaca state, Mexico)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thank you for downloading from the BBC.
0:04.0	The details of our complete range of podcasts and our terms of use, go to BBCworldservice.com slash podcasts. A group of musicians is rehearsing in a small town not far from the Pacific coast of
0:29.9	southern Mexico in the state of Oaxaca. This music is known as The Dance of the Devils.
0:35.6	It's late October and they're getting ready to play at the Day of the Dead
0:39.3	festivities when they honor their ancestors. I'm Lucy Duran and welcome to the documentary
0:46.0	here on the BBC World Service. I'm here to take part in a series of music
0:51.3	workshops to encourage young children in towns like this to learn more about
0:56.2	their musical heritage and that heritage is Afro-Mexican. African.
1:05.0	Who are these Afro Mexicans?
1:10.0	I barely knew of their existence before coming to Oaxaca, and it seems I'm not the only one.
1:16.7	In this country, made up mostly of people of Spanish or indigenous origin, many don't seem to realize that there's also a substantial
1:26.3	group of people who call themselves black. In this program we'll be talking to
1:31.4	Afro Mexicans about their history and their way of life.
1:35.7	We'll find out how they feel marginalized and ignored by their fellow countrymen and are often mistaken
1:42.1	for foreigners.
1:43.0	And we'll learn about a growing movement to get better recognition for Afro-Mexican identity here in Wahaka, and this tune is especially important.
2:02.0	It's played on the unlikely combination of a harmonica,
2:06.6	a mule's jawbone, and a drum with a stick that's rubbed. Even small children know the steps of the dance of the devils.
2:15.0	My journey begins in a small town called Jose Maria Morelos, where I stop off at the local primary school.
2:30.0	What's your name?
2:31.0	Annette.
2:32.0	How old do you, Annette?
	...

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