The Latin American Identity and the African Diaspora: Ethnogenesi ...

While the bamba of Mexico and the tangoof Argentina are mere words used within a national corpus of European origin, they are indeed traceable as having been deracinated from the African continent along with the enslaved peoples that brought them as concepts of a lived reality. As such, each concept appears in its respective lexical niche in the Americas as linguistic vestiges of a cultural and physical manifestation that has lost its indigenous perspective on the contemporary scene. That there is a psychological need for some countries to still attempt to deny a linkage between Africa and their modern societies is part and parcel of the image that the enslavement of Africans in Latin America has wrought. But, as Lovejoy in “The African Diaspora: Revisionist Interpretations of Ethnicity, Culture and Religion under Slavery” informs us:

This research and study of the aesthetics of the Afro Latin world has shown that evidence of an African lineage in Latin America goes far beyond the phenotypic image. Aspects of the area's creative literature confirm that a strong black identity in South America, Central America, and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean is both definitive and vibrantly quotidian at various levels—including spiritual, linguistic, and philosophical, among others—even without overt admission. One can find tangible features of an African heritage integrated into the fibers of contemporary life in these regions of the Americas and perceive that these aspects go a long way toward shaping the cultural demarcation of many countries. As Lovejoy also points out, “[f]or many slaves in the Americas, Africa continued to live in their daily lives” (8). It is this lived experience that has become a cultural force in the day-to-day context of many Latin American environments. For some, this experience passed down from generation to generation has become the psychological and social dynamic that creates a sense of ethnic solidarity. Perhaps this sense of ethnic cohesion and unity can be explained in real terms by referring to an interview