History Professor’s Research on Argentina, Race, and Blackness
If you have recently turned on the news or flipped through the channels, you have likely noticed that the FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar. Among the teams in this international competition is Argentina, arguably a clear favorite to take the trophy home. But, have you noticed that while many European and Latin American team rosters have players from various ethnic backgrounds, Argentina continues to present an all-white team? This is the question that associate professor of History Erika Edwards, Ph.D., addresses in her latest article in The Washington Post. For Dr. Edwards, the answer to this question requires a look back at the country’s history in order to see how Argentina has ignored and even hidden the country’s afro-descendants and black citizens.
Dr. Edwards is an expert on Latin America and Pre-colonial Atlantic Africa. Her award-winning book, Hiding in Plain Sight. Black Women, the Law, and the Making of a White Argentine Republic (The University of Alabama Press, 2020), analyzes black erasure and the construction of race in Argentina. Dr. Edwards analyzes how laws and politics have consistently ignored the black and afro-descendant population despite having a longstanding history.
Her expertise has allowed her to contribute to many journals, newspapers, and organizations, most recently to an NPR series on the World Cup where she provides the backdrop to Argentina’s soccer god, Diego Armando Maradona and the constant comparison to Lionel Messi, one of the world’s best players looking to raise the World Cup trophy if and when Argentina make it to the World Cup final on December 18, 2022.
For more on Dr. Edward’s research and her contributions in relation to current events, please see the links below.
Dr. Edwards’ OpEd in The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2022/12/08/why-doesnt-argentina-have-more-black-players-world-cup/
Contribution to NPR series:
https://www.npr.org/2022/11/07/1134746950/lionel-messi-world-cup-diego-maradona
Interview with KTEP, "We Are UT El Paso"
https://www.ktep.org/2022-12-11/erika-edwards
Hiding in Plain Sight (The University of Alabama Press, 2020)
https://www.uapress.ua.edu/9780817360313/hiding-in-plain-sight/
