Between Blackphilia and Negrophobia: 1920s Cartoons in Transnational Perspective

ABSTRACT

This article examines caricatures published in the 1920s in illustrated magazines of countries that belonged to an interatlantic circuit of Afro-diasporic performances. I contemplate representations of black characters, protagonists of African music and dance expressions that gained popularity in elite spheres, in order to investigate processes that interfered in the construction of racialized social categories from a transnational perspective. In the light of post-colonial studies, inspired by Frantz Fanon and Homi Bhabha, I envision the examination of the representations-stereotypes taking into account the ambiguities underlying their elaboration. Produced in the so-called Jazz Age, the graphic-humoristic creations provoke reflections on transits and exchanges mediated by periodical publications that contributed to the elaboration of identities, in the balance between racist strategies of power and domination, and the success and affirmation of black culture expanded in diasporic axes of cultural exchange.

Keywords:
Caricatures; 1920s; Racism; Jazz; Illustrated Magazines