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.

摘要 本文考察了20世纪20年代，隶属于非裔散居（Afro-diasporic）表演跨大西洋传播圈的各国插画杂志所刊载的讽刺漫画。本文聚焦于在精英圈层中广受欢迎的非洲音乐与舞蹈表现形式的核心主体——黑人形象的再现形态，旨在从跨国视角探究干预种族化社会范畴建构的各类进程。本文依托后殖民研究范式，以弗朗茨·法农（Frantz Fanon）与霍米·巴巴（Homi Bhabha）的理论为灵感来源，对这些再现模式与刻板印象展开考察，同时考量其创作过程中潜藏的歧义性。这些诞生于所谓“爵士时代（Jazz Age）”的图像幽默创作，引发了人们对期刊出版物所介导的文化流动与交流的反思：这类媒介助力了身份建构，同时在种族主义权力支配策略，与在文化交流散居轴线上传播的黑人文化的兴盛与身份确证之间维系着平衡。