Abstract

BALLESTEROS PAEZ, María Dolores. The vision of European travelers regarding African-Americans during the first half of the 19th Century. Cuicuilco. Rev. cienc. antropol. [online]. 2017, vol.24, n.69, pp.185-206. ISSN 2448-8488.

This work analyzes the representations of the Afro-descendant population in the narratives of European travelers during the first half of the 19th Century. The concern of these writers was to recover/portray Mexican exoticism in their works and differentiate them from the virtues of their countries of origin, as well as from the elements of Mexican otherness, including the Afro-descendants. Her reading of thinkers, such as Bernier or Linnaeus, conditioned her view, thus justifying the observation, study, description, and “civilization,” through the work and education of the Afro-descendant population. The text concludes that her narratives are personal reflections of ideas and conceptions regarding the transition from taxonomic to 19th Century racist thought, along with the nationalist construction of the self versus the other. Finally, the text presents us with a thread of ideas that connects the 18th Century with the present day, since their conceptions and assertions about the Afrodescendant population continue to be repeated.

Keywords : Travel narratives; nineteenth century; african descent people.