Commemoration and Stereotyping Afro-Uruguayan Women in Uruguay Today

In 2007 Afro-Uruguayan women were brought into the national spotlight when the Ministry of Education and Culture dedicated the annual Día del Patrimonio (Heritage Day) to “Afro-Uruguayan culture and, more specifically, to three legendary stars of Candombe: the singer Lágrima Ríos (1924-2006) and the vedettes, Martha Gularte (1919-2002) and Rosa Luna (1937-93)” (Andrews 168). Biographies of all three women were included in the book of articles that was commissioned, showing the adversity each overcame, and their many achievements outside of candombe. The women were far more than just entertainers. Ríos was recruited to run for the General Assembly, however instead of running for office she was elected as president of Mundo Afro, “where she served as a highly visible spokesperson for the organization and its causes” (168). Rosa Luna was active in campaigning against the 1986 law which granted amnesty to people who had committed torture, and received enough attention that she was offered a weekly column in 1988 in the newspaper La República, as a weekly columnist. She was the first black columnist in a mainstream Uruguayan newspaper, and used her newfound position to discuss a wide range of topics, including race and discrimination (169).

It can, and has been debated as to whether or not recognizing these famous women of candombe does more harm than good for the Afro-Uruguayan community as a whole. While it brings Afro-Uruguayan women to the forefront of the nation’s mind, and their impressive accomplishments were explained in their biographies, it must be acknowledged that many people would not read their histories, but all would see the images of the women on posters and Día del Patrimonio publicity. As can be seen in further images in our section Candombe in Uruguay, candombe singers and vedettes are always scantily-clad and sexually provocative. This means that ultimately, the picture Uruguayans would be left with in their minds once the Día del Patrimonio had passed would only serve to deepen the image of the Afro-Uruguayan woman as merely a piece of hyper-sexualized entertainment.