Allusions to Black Ancestry in Veracruz, Mexico
"We all have a Pringa": Metaphors of Black Blood in Veracruz, Mexico by Karma Frierson (Washington University in St. Louis)
Locals in Veracruz, Mexico have their own version of a "one drop rule," though it functions quite distinctly from the iteration that has impacted processes of racial categorization in the United States. While in the US, having a drop of "Black blood" historically affects who you are by dictating your racial categorization, the Veracuz version—the pringa—explains how you are through attributing preferences of personalities to its possession. The pringa can mean either a drop or a stain; the former encourages a trivialization of Blackness while the latter an irrevocability. The tension between these two captures how locals recon with the expectations that Veracruz is a Black(er) space within the Mexican nation. In this talk, Karma Frierson will argue metaphors of Black blood in Veracruz are claims to local group belonging that while racialized are not quite equal.
This talk is part of the Afro-Mexican Visiting Speaker Series.