Trayectorias de los afrodescendientes en el comercio callejero de Bogotá

Abstract

Este artículo reflexiona acerca de la yuxtaposición teórica entre el paradigma afrogenético y las aproximaciones posmodernas basadas en la teoría del mestizaje. Propone la complementariedad de ambos a partir del análisis de información histórica y etnográfica acopiada durante el trabajo de monografía con población afrodescendiente en Bogotá. Las dinámicas de la etnicidad y las relaciones interétnicas se abordan mediante el análisis de relatos de vida en los cuales los sujetos hablan de las experiencias migratorias, de la inserción urbana-metropolitana y, en especial, del trabajo en la venta ambulante. Se exponen, además, las vivencias particulares de los afrodescendientes como vendedores callejeros en el centro de la ciudad, correlacionándolas con la injerencia que tienen las políticas restrictivas de espacio público y ciertas prácticas discriminatorias y de estereotipia socio-racial.

“Recovering” public space and race: Afro-Colombian street vendors in Bogotá, Colombia

“…Black people are victims of all these humiliations, which weigh more because they are accompanied by racist phrases and designations that heighten the feelings of rejection from the city. (Meza, 2003: 92–93) 8 The experience of Afro-Colombian street vendors in this study also differs by gender. Black men acknowledged and discussed that they are double criminalized by being street vendors and by being Black.…”

“…In a study of Afro-Colombian vendors in Bogotá, Meza (2003) elucidates how Afro-Colombians living in Bogotá́ view the city as cold, hateful, and racist. Afro-Colombian street vendors in Bogotá experience socio-racial discrimination based on restrictive street-vending policies in public spaces and the criminalization of Black bodies.…”

“…Black people are victims of all these humiliations, which weigh more because they are accompanied by racist phrases and designations that heighten the feelings of rejection from the city. (Meza, 2003: 92–93) 8…”

“…Specifically, Black bodies are read as already criminal, and as such, street vendors endure higher rates of discrimination. Meza's (2003) study on Afro-Colombian street vendors in Bogota´is one of the few studies highlighting the experiences of Afro-descendant vendors who endure heightened harassment not only due to being vendors but also being Black. There remains a lacuna of studies dealing with spatial analysis of the intersection of race in discourses of public space in Bogota.…”

“…I build on Meza’s (2003) study to argue that Afro-Colombians endure higher marginality and discrimination as street vendors than self-identified as mestizos. Thus, Black bodies are multiple marked by discourses of crime, displacement, and undesirability in public spaces.…”