Aesthetics of Submission and Racialized Closures in Black/Afro Dance in Medellín

https://doi.org/10.25058/20112742.n52.06

Paola Andrea Vargas
https://orcid.org/0009-0005-4725-7027
Universidad Autónoma de Occidente, Colombia
paovargas05@yahoo.es

Abstract:

This article describes how Black people have historically been relegated to slums on the ouskirts of cities, something that not only affects their quality of life but also their social and symbolic position in Medellín. This territorial distribution reflects the aesthetics of submission analyzed by Fanon, where location in the city determines the opportunities and the ways in which Black people are perceived and valued by the rest of society. Such aesthetics of submission not only impact the material conditions of Black individuals but also shape racialized closures that influence power relations both within and outside Afro-descendant communities. Through a critical analysis of the representation of Blackness in the world of dance in Medellín, this article examines the tensions between how Black people see themselves and how they are viewed by society, revealing how aesthetic narratives reinforce imaginaries of marginalization and exotification.

Keywords: aesthetics of submission, Black communities, Medellín, coloniality, representation, exclusion, racial imaginaries, cultural reappropriation, resistance, Fanon.