Critical intellectuality of afrocolombians: blackness in the intellectual thought of Rogerio Velásquez Murillo

Abstract

Using the theoretical and methodological contributions ofered by the critical theory of race and Afro politics, the article investigates the critical intellectuality of Afro-Colombians in the intellectual and political thought of the chocoano Rogerio Velázquez Murillo. The purpose of the article is to examine the semantic constructions concerning the idea of race, by historicizing the use of racial categories frequently used in his ethnographic and folkloric works. The article argues that the project of a mestizo nation and the denial of a racial problem did not impede the emergence of a critical intellectuality of Afro-Colombians that observed existing racial issues.