Resumen

WATSON, Sonja Stephenson. Afro-Panamanian Identity in the Literature from the Twentieth to the New Millennium. LiminaR [online]. 2015, vol.13, n.2, pp.27-37. ISSN 2007-8900.

Black Panamanian identity in Panama is both complex and problematic becauseof the coexistence of two groups of blacks in the country: afro-colonials and black West Indians. While afro-colonials are the product of race mixing and identify by their Panamanian nationality, West Indians are immigrants and follow the racial model of their native countries-Jamaica and Barbados- which are racially constructed around blackness. Therefore, they identify as black. As a result, in Panama it is difficult to talk about Afro-Panamanian identity because it is marked by fluidity and racial, cultural and linguistic hybridity. The afro-Panamanian writers, Juan Urriola, Gaspar Octavio Hernández, Carlos Cubena Guillermo Wilson, and Melva Lowe de Goodin represent these two ethnic groups. As a result, their works manifest the problematic of identity which is a reflection of the African diaspora.

Palabras llave : Afro-Panamanian; West Indian; afro-colonial; Panama Canal; national identity.

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