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Paper short abstract

To subvert the racializing processes is a challenge itself. In this paper I reflect on how gathering the lost memories of African people that settled in Spain from the last quarter of 19th century and during the 20th century offer new narratives and tools to empower Afro-European communities today.

Paper long abstract

I will expose the case of the Krio Fernandino that started in 1880, and that was reinforced by the case of the Bubi and the Fang people settled from the beginning of the 20th century. I propose to gather these African imprints by oral and written sources to put invisible and marginal voices and people in the centre, given that to demonstrate their large presence in Europe can reinforce their rights, demonstrating that they have been part of European societies for more than two centuries.

The interest of studying Afro-European lost memories in Spain is based on Postcolonial and Decolonial Studies and its final aim is to neutralize the perverse effects of the racialization processes activated from colonial times.

To empower Afro communities by tracing their Afro-European past using different methodologies from Anthropology and History will be supported by gathering interviews to reconstruct oral history, documentation related to list of passengers from African countries to European, personal permissions to travel, reading some sections of colonial press, etc. From my point of view, the combination of oral history with the consultation of data in the press, archives, etc., presents an interesting way to put into circulation other narratives useful to neutralize racism and racialization processes.

This paper is a result of the R&D Project “Africans, Maghrebis and Latins (1808-1975). Blackness, resistance and deracialization of elites” (BLACKSPAIN) (PID2022-138689NB-I00), funded by MCIN/ AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ and FEDER Una manera de hacer Europa.