중남미

Since Argentina was constructed in the 19th century, the identitydiscourse which claims that the Argentine people are racially whiteand culturally European has been sustained. Before the Spanishcolonists came to this region, the indigenous peoples indios lived thereand in the 16th century the black Africans were introduced as slaves. However, although they contributed to Argentina in many ways, theseracial groups disappeared after the construction of the nation andthe massive settlement of European immigrants who poured intothe country. Most importantly the existence of blacks was concealeddeliberately by the white ruling elites’ racist policy based on the theoryof the evolutionists. In this context, this paper deals with the processof black Africans’ alienation from mainstream society as a socialminority, through the formation of European-white identity discourse,and the fictional background created through the mechanism of anational census. This discussion reveals how the Argentine rulingelites distorted and concealed the black community in order to achievetheir goal of constructing a homogeneous society. In other words,this paper attempts to peel off the erroneous myth relating to theArgentine identity.