Afro-Mexico : identity politics in the Costa Chica

In Mexico, blackness is rendered invisible due to the absence of Afrodescendants from nationalist discourse. Nonetheless, in the past decade, a series of black political organizations emerged in the Costa Chica region of southern Mexico. This study builds upon a series of interviews conducted with both activists and community members in several towns of the Costa Chica region in order to explore the dynamics and history of these organizations, and to evaluate their relationship with the communities and the state. This investigation analyzes and documents the link between social movements and identity formation, and evaluates how these emerging black social movements are both contesting a national discourse that excludes them, while simultaneously constructing an Afro-Mexican identity that demands recognition from the state. A focus on social movements highlights the processes involved in the emergence and construction of collective black identity in contemporary Mexico, and it builds on the growing body of research on Afro-Mexican identity politics.