Blackness and Mestizaje: Afro-Caribbean Music in Chetumal, Mexico

Abstract

Hierba Santa, Chan Santa Roots, Korto Circuito, Roots and Wisdom, Escuadrón 16: these are a few of the numerous reggae and ska groups from the state of Quintana Roo in the south-eastern part of Mexico, bordering Belize. While this region is traditionally associated with either a dominant Maya culture or with the first mestizaje in Mexico, this paper explores Afro-Caribbean music in order to analyze socio-historical mechanisms of inclusion, transformation, and elimination of differences. Focusing on the local reggae and ska scene (musicians, organizations, the general public, etc.), this paper attempts to understand the meaning of black music without black people, and its consequences on the definition of Mexican mestizaje.

Keywords:

• Afro-Caribbean music
• mestizaje
• black
• ethnicity
• race
• Chetumal

This paper has been written within the framework of the research project of ANR Suds – AIRD Afrodesc (ANR-07-SUDS-008) ‘Afrodescendants and slaveries: domination, identification and legacies in the Americas (15th to 21st centuries)’ (http://www.ird.fr/afrodesc/) and the European program Eurescl 7° PCRD ‘Slave Trade, Slavery, Abolitions and their Legacies in European Histories and Identities’ (www.eurescl.eu). The translation was made by Assad Shoman and revised by Hilary Sanders.

Notes

^[1] The  term ‘Afro-Caribbean’ includes several musical genres in the discourse of the inhabitants of Chetumal: reggae, ska, calypso, punta, etc. It refers especially to the music that comes from neighboring Belize, although it could also refer to all types of music associated with black people and/or with the Caribbean.

^[2] Until the abolition of slavery in 1833, Belize was a slave society that was dedicated to forestry exploitation (Bolland 2003).

^[3] The data is interrupted from September 1911 until 1926, probably because of the disturbances associated with the Revolution (Archivo General de la Nación, Secretaría de Gobernación, Sec. 4a 908).

^[4] For an analysis of sambay and brukdown from a Belizean perspective, see Hyde (2009).

^[5] Payo Obispo became the capital in 1915, replacing Chan Santa Cruz, the future Felipe Carrillo Puerto.

^[6] Among other things, in that period, certain place names were ‘Mexicanized’: Payo Obispo became Chetumal, Chan Santa Cruz became Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Campamento Mengel became Alvaro Obregón, etc. Likewise, the cooperative was adopted as a form of socioeconomic organization; forestry ejidos were formed; the first projects to link Chetumal by road to the rest of the country were implemented; programs of civic education were introduced; and policies of internal settlement were established.

^[7] A secret circular in May 1924 prohibited the immigration of black people into Mexico; the years 1930–1940 were characterized by the implementation of restrictive immigration measures, which were guided in particular by racial criteria (see Yankelevich 2009; Saade Granados 2009).

^[8] See the compilation Belize City Boil-Up, Stonetree Records, which brings together the principal interpreters of these Belizean rhythms of the years 1950–1970 in a surprising mix of disco music, jazz, and funk. There are very few written records of the influence of Belizean and Caribbean music in Chetumal in the years 1960–1970 (with the exception of Ortega (2008) and Manríquez (2007)).

^[9] Eddie Ortega (2008) also mentions other less well-known groups: Los Cuervos, Los Flyers, Los Brotherhoods, and Los Reclutas.

^[10] In reality, the group found inspiration in brukdown, soca, and calypso, but the term ‘reggae’ is often used today as a synonym of ‘Afro-Caribbean music’, thus including a range of styles independent of their musical and historical specificities. A more specialized study of musical rhythms, lyrics, and instruments has not yet been endeavored.

^[11] Interview in the movie ‘Reggae from Chetumal for the world’, directed by Eduardo Medina Zetina, Chetumal, Santa Cecilia Producciones, 2008.

^[12] Today, another musician plays this role of legitimization on the local music scene: Wisdom, the leader of the group Roots and Wisdom, who is a rasta musician of Nigerian origin located in Felipe Carrillo Puerto. Thanks to his contacts in the United States and Europe, his great dynamism and cultural projects, he contributes to consolidating and enhancing the reputation of Afro-Caribbean music (http://www.rootsandwisdommusic.com/spanish.htm).

^[13] It was also necessary to satisfy certain criteria with regard to agricultural, industrial, and commercial infrastructure, and to local government revenues.

^[14] Association with the Caribbean is an element of the affirmation of a local identity, which was very strong during the administration of Miguel Borge (it also marks the foundation of the University of Quintana Roo in 1991). However, it did not have great influence thereafter, at least in public policies, although it is present in an indirect way.

^[15] Margarito Molina, coordinator of the Office of Popular Cultures in Chetumal, recalls that the affirmation of a Mexican Caribbean character appeared in the state of Quintana Roo in 1988 – that is to say, before the state of Veracruz, which is now considered the ‘Caribbean state’ of Mexico (interview, 24 November 2010). In Veracruz, this Caribbean dimension is affirmed in 1989, when the Veracruz Institute of Culture (IVEC) organized the first forum ‘Veracruz is also Caribbean’; and then during the Afro-Caribbean Festival of 1994. It should likewise be emphasized that there was greater development and continuity in the local cultural policies in Veracruz. Also, in the case of Veracruz, the Caribbean is more explicitly related to the Afro-Caribbean, thanks to the program The Third Root: in this period, Luz María Martínez Montiel was the director of the cultural heritage program of IVEC and coordinator of Third Root (Rinaudo 2012). Despite the presence of Guillermo Bonfil Batalla in the International Cultural Festival of the Caribbean in 1991, the connection between ‘Caribbean-ness’ and The Third Root did not function in Quintana Roo. It seems that the only impact of the program in the state was the work of Mario Baltazar Collí Collí from the state Office of Popular Cultures in Felipe Carrillo Puerto (1992).

^[16] RC Producciones, 2001.

^[17] Bahía del Sol Records, 2004. The libretto states: ‘a man of his time and of his world, Don Policarpo Aguilar was a chiclero in the 1930s, a mahogany cutter and fisherman, whose sensitivity allowed him to translate to a musical language the history of the microcosmos which he lived. He shared work with men from places like Belize, who he used to hear sing while they were extracting chicle’.

^[18] Although this might be the case for a new generation of musicians or for groups from places with a different or broader musical repertoire. It is interesting to observe that the I and I and Polok Tolok blogs in Mérida, and Corpus Klan in Cancún, have recourse in a much more explicit manner to practices or ideas associated with Afro-Caribbean culture. Thus, I and I places itself under the protection of Jah Rastafari, and sends a message of peace and tolerance; Polok Tolok refers to Jamaican music as against Babylon; the logo of Corpus Klan is the face of a man with dreadlocks and rasta colors.

^[19] The Explanada de la Bandera, an emblematic site of Chetumal, was constructed by Governor Rafael Melgar during the administration of President Cardenas, within the dynamics of integration into the nation, and was also the favorite site for the dances linked to the proximity with Belize; it is now a symbol of the defense of a ‘Chetumal identity’.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Elisabeth Cunin

Elisabeth Cunin is at the Unité de Recherches Migrations et Société, Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, 3 Boulevard François Mitterrand, 06357 Nice Cedex 4, France