202557(en)/43 - ‘The Black Man Got Up, Got Dressed and Put on his Poncho’. Preliminary Notes of Afro-Descendant Clothing Practices in Central Chile and the Southern Border of the Rio de La Plata (18th-19th Centuries)
‘THE BLACK MAN GOT UP, GOT DRESSED AND PUT ON HIS PONCHO’. PRELIMINARY NOTES OF AFRO-DESCENDANT CLOTHING PRACTICES IN CENTRAL CHILE AND THE SOUTHERN BORDER OF THE RIO DE LA PLATA (18TH-19TH CENTURIES)
“SE LEVANTÓ EL NEGRO, SE VISTIÓ Y SE PUSO EL PONCHO”. PRELIMINARES SOBRE LAS PRÁCTICAS DEL VESTIR AFRODESCENDIENTE EN CHILE CENTRAL Y LA FRONTERA SUR DEL RÍO DE LA PLATA (SIGLOS XVIII-XIX)
Orlando Gabriel Morales and Javiera A. Carmona Jiménez
The poncho is an emblematic object in historical and anthropological museums of Chile and Argentina, used to represent Indigenous peoples and consecrated as one of the autochthonous garments created and worn by them. However, by the end of the 18th century, the use of the poncho had expanded as a multiethnic, multifunctional, and socially transversal garment among various groups in Hispanic colonial society in the Southern Cone, including enslaved and free Afro-descendants. This article offers a panoramic overview of the issue of dress among enslaved people and their descendants in the central regions of Argentina and Chile between the 18th and 19th centuries, based on an analysis of fragmentary documentation—primarily military and judicial sources—in which the poncho functions as a locus of observation. The article describes the origins and spread of poncho use in the region, and establishes the participation of Afro-descendants in the production, circulation, and use of the textile. Finally, it addresses the role of Afro-descendant soldiers in shaping the poncho’s military uses within pro-independence military units.
