Why, after almost a hundred years the Black press ceased publication in Argentina, did a group of Afro-Argentine community activists and editors decide to resuscitate a print newspaper in the era of digital publication? What does it mean to be Black and Argentine in a country historically imagined as white and European?
In this talk, Marisol Fila will explore these questions by discussing how the Afro-Argentine organization DIAFAR (African Diaspora of Argentina) leverages both print and digital media as tools for grassroots mobilization, community-building, and racial self-definition. Through close readings of DIAFAR’s print newspaper, El Afroargentino, and its online section, Negrx, she will show how various forms of media allow DIAFAR to simultaneously reclaim the legacy of the Black press in Argentina —reviving the sense of community it once fostered among Afro-Argentines— while educating Argentine society on how to “see” race and racism in a “raceless” nation. Marisol will contrast Afro-Argentines’ multimedia activism with that of their counterparts in Brazil, where the robust historical presence of Afro-Brazilians and their heightened visibility allows activists to move beyond assertions of Black presence to imagine new shared Black futures and make broader demands for curatorial, and aesthetic authority. Through this transnational and interdisciplinary analysis, this talk highlights the transformative power of these analog and digital forms of community-based media production to articulate local and global Black identities while reshaping broader racial and cultural narratives across the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking Black Atlantic.
Marisol Fila is a PhD Candidate in Romance Languages and Literatures at the University of Michigan and a 2023-2025 Predoctoral Visiting Fellow in the Department of African and African American Studies and in the Afro-Latin American Research Institute (ALARI) at Harvard University. Her research explores how Black female and male writers, artists, and intellectuals use digital and print media as a tool of social and racial justice, mobilization, community building, and intellectual authority. Through a specific emphasis on Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, and Cape Verde, Marisol’s work underscores the importance of the multilingual Global Black Press in opening up political possibilities for Africans and Afrodescendants across the Hispanophone and Lusophone Black Atlantic. Grounding her teaching and scholarship on Anti-Racist Critical Pedagogy, Community-Engagement, and Public Digital Humanities, Marisol additionally reflects on how technology can serve as a tool to share her work with broader audiences while developing public projects in partnership with Afro-Latin American activist groups. Marisol is the winner of the Alfredo D. & Luz María P. Gutiérrez Dissertation Award and the 2019 University of Michigan Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor.
Attend this talk through Zoom!
