Re: Creation of the International Institute for Afro-American Studies
For years there has been the intention of founding a center devoted especially to the problems of the Black populations of America, of their study, their history, their cultures, etc. But time and again, opposition to this project had arisen…The time seemed to have come to build such an organism, without official status and with merely scientific purposes for the special study of these problems (emphasis mine). The idea was enthusiastically received and on October 20 [1943] in Mexico City, the act creating the International Institute of Afro-American Studies was signed. (Instituto Internacional de Estudios Afroamericanos 2016, 145).[1]The letters and memorandums included in this article have been translated by the author.
Founded in Mexico in November 1943, the International Institute of Afro-American Studies (IIAAS) was not just a scientific endeavor. Its founders had a significant political agenda. Fernando Ortiz, a Cuban anthropologist and prominent scholar of Afro-Cuban culture, led efforts to establish the IIAAS. His work on transculturation and the cultural history of African-descended populations positioned him as a key figure in studying racial and cultural dynamics in the Americas.[2]At the time, Ortiz had recently published one of his most renowned works, Cuban Counterpoint: Tobacco and Sugar (1940), and had already conducted extensive research on Afrodescendant populations in Cuba. His previous works included De la música afrocubana: Un estímulo para su estudio (1934) and Glosario de Afronegrismos (1924). Ortiz’s efforts to establish the IIAAS reveal the intricate power dynamics within anthropology and underscore his ability to create a center with a clear postcolonial agenda. He envisioned an institute that would unite the Americas in the study of Afro-descendant populations, fostering intellectual exchange across countries while also challenging the dominance of perspectives from certain US scholars, such as Melville J. Herskovits.
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| ↑1 | The letters and memorandums included in this article have been translated by the author. |
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| ↑2 | At the time, Ortiz had recently published one of his most renowned works, Cuban Counterpoint: Tobacco and Sugar (1940), and had already conducted extensive research on Afrodescendant populations in Cuba. His previous works included De la música afrocubana: Un estímulo para su estudio (1934) and Glosario de Afronegrismos (1924). |
