| Chapter I: | Essay I: Aesthetic Blackness in the Creative Literature of the Latin/Hispanic Reality |
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photographer Alberto Ibañez that: “The Afromestizo community is part of the skin of our country, a face that appears to be looking to the sea, searching for its origin” (18). Additionally, there is the affirmation that:
Brazilian researchers have also concluded that “In Brazil, at an individual level, color, as determined by physical evaluation, was a poor predictor of genomic ancestry, estimated by molecular markers” (Pimenta et al. 194).
It is precisely this duplicity of appearances that has made the concretization of the Afro Latin identity so elusive. One must always be mindful of the fact that particular phenotypes in the “Hispano/Latino” ethnography, as genomic studies have shown, are not an end result, but are only the visible evidence of a genetic instancy that can further destabilize or be physiognomically transformed with an unexpected outcome. The acceptance or rejection of the miscegenated individual's physical appearance depends on his or her cultural environment. Notwithstanding this, there is an established precedent in Latin societies of recognizing miscegenation as an intermediate stage within the range of blackness, even if the miscegenated individual might hope to be categorized finally into the upper echelon of the racial scale (i.e., with a classification of whiteness). This mindset can even be found in Lazarillo de Tormes, a sixteenth-century tale of early Spain written by an anonymous author. In order to put food on the table, Lazarillo's poor and widowed mother begins to cohabit with Zaide, a black man, whose contributions to their pantry make life much better for both mother and son. These contributions, which lead to an improved lifestyle, turn Lazarillo's distrust and fear of his stepfather—mainly due to his color—into admiration and respect.