The Representation of Blackness in Murals and Statues in an Afro-Ecuadorian Region

Abstract

When Ernesto Estupiñan Quintero was elected mayor of the city of Esmeraldas, Ecuador, in 2000, he was the first self-identifying Black person to reach this position. The city of Esmeraldas is the capital of the only province of the nation where Afro-Ecuadorians are the largest racial and cultural group. Immediately upon his election, Ernesto began commissioning murals and statues that contested what I term “traditional” representations of Blackness. In this article, I show how through analysis of the “traditional” within the national context, a shift is taking place regarding the meaning of Blackness. In addition, I show through examination of Quintero's Afro-Ecuadorian representations of Blackness the ways in which dominant notions of race are simultaneously contested and reproduced.

Keywords:

• Afro-Ecuadorian
• Blackness
• blanqueaimento
• Ecuador
• Latin America
• mestizaje
• popular art
• race
• representation