Afro-descendants, racism and Anthropology: reflections from different formative instances at the National University of Rosario

Abstract

In the training to obtain the degree in Anthropology of the National University of Rosario between 1999-2004 approximately, there were little discussions on the field of Afro-descendant populations in America and topics about the racial variable, concerning these populations. In this paper, we shall emphasize the lack of bibliography and the ways of approaching some of these issues in our generation educational experience (Achilli, 2011), considering my experience as an Assistant Professor since 2017 (and currently) in the subject American Sociocultural Systems in the Anthropology Degree. Contrasting both instances, we will recover experiences and exchanges in the classroom practices, in different periods and subjects, in order to question aspects that, at different contextual levels, we believe that provoked the lack of Afro-descendant topics and the debate around the continuity/overlap between race/ethnicity as a related matter. The reflections gathered in this paper are meant to contribute to a critical interchange about the anthropological formation at the National University of Rosario.