On settler colonial Uruguay: Katalina Lopez, ¿Quiénes Somos?: A Historical Study of Afro-Uruguayan and Charrúas in Uruguayan National Identity, MA dissertation, The University of Texas at San Antonio, 2025 | settler colonial studies blog

On settler colonial Uruguay: Katalina Lopez, ¿Quiénes Somos?: A Historical Study of Afro-Uruguayan and Charrúas in Uruguayan National Identity, MA dissertation, The University of Texas at San Antonio, 2025

02Sep25

Abstract: My research project focuses on Afro-descendants and Charrúas (one of Uruguay’s Indigenous groups), inspecting their roles within Uruguay’s colonial and republican origins. Memory and identity are key concepts I analyzed throughout Uruguay’s various historical developments from the late eighteenth to early twentieth centuries. To do so, I investigated negritude (a Pan-African movement) parallels in Uruguay. Afro-descendants embraced their identity within Uruguay through positive cultural, political, literary, and artistic practices similar to the negritude movement from the United States. I also incorporated indigenismo (a movement that promoted fictionalized narratives rather than accurate or inclusive portrayals of Indigenous groups) to compare with the perceptions and writings from white Uruguayan elites and scholars towards Charrúas. The purpose of this study is to understand acceptance and rejection in Uruguayan social belonging. To accomplish the purpose, I will focus on othered groups. My thesis research uses postcolonial, poststructuralist, social, and cultural theories. I inspect Uruguayan nationality through geographic landscapes, language, and social practices. This thesis mainly incorporates state-given information through Uruguay’s Archivo General de La Nacion and the Biblioteca Nacional, which lacks other sources that embrace a subaltern perspective. Primarily, accounts, newspapers, anthropology books, and photographs of paintings made from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries were abundant sources for this research. I traveled to Uruguay and stayed for a month to collect primary resources while interviewing historians and professors regarding Afro-descendants and Charrúas in Uruguayan national identity. I also utilized digital archives for secondary sources, such as journal articles and manuscripts, and other primary sources, like the Archivo de la Memoria Charrúas. I conclude that Uruguay incorporated the cultural identities of Charrúas and Afro-descendants to maintain sovereignty and gave the illusion that its national identity was inclusive.

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