Re-visitando la Hegemonía conservadora: raza y política en Cartagena (Colombia), 1885-1930

Abstract

Between 1885 and 1930, several conservatively-oriented governments controlled the political power in Colombia. Previous researches about this period, which it is known as the Conservative Hegemony, coincide in revealing the absence of Afrodescendant leaderships. By looking at the political and professional trajectories of a group of black and darker-skinned people, this article proposes a novel approach to the previously mentioned picture. The article shows that during this period a significant group of Afro-descendants rose to political and intellectual positions through which they conducted debates about race, politics and education. I conclude that Afro-Colombians, by defending the political representation they had achieved, articulated an alternative discourse to the ideas on the alleged natural inferiority of Afro-descendants that some members of the white elite attempted to impose during the conservative hegemony.