'Black Spanish' Speech as Ethnic Identity in Afro-Colombian Poetry: The Case of Candelario Obeso

Introduction This paper presents a linguistic as well as a socio-ethnic analysis of Afro-Colombian poet Candelario Obeso's Cantos populares de mi tierra (Popular chants of my homeland, henceforth Cantos). Thus, it describes relevant 'Black Spanish'(i.e., Afro-Hispanic) linguistic features, along with extra-linguistic entities naturally associated with ethnic, social;, and cultural characteristics. The paper has two purposes, one general and one specific. The general, purpose is to show that socio-cultural entities such as ethnic identity and race, group membership, and stigma/prestige formation are working concepts that may be reflected on literary discourse in terms of socio-ethno-linguistic variables. Such variables, however, are not reflected in the same way, as will be shown in the literary discourse of other Afro-Colombian writers. The specific purpose of this paper is to account for the linguistic structure of 'Black Spanish,' as exhibited in Cantos, and to show that Obeso's poetic discourse appears to be a peculiar speech form of Afro-vernacular Spanish. It will be also shown that the author makes use of this linguistic modality in order, first, to reflect his ethnic identity and, secondly, to react against linguistic, racial, and cultural prejudice and, thirdly, to foster positive attitudes toward prestige formation in Afro-Hispanic traditions. Biographical Note The Afro-Colombian poet, Candelario Obeso (Mompox, 1849-1884), was an erudite, prolific, yet polemic writer, who lived intensely and underwent an early, tragic death. In fact, known as the founder of "Black poetry" in Colombia (Prescott 1985), Obeso lived in poverty, his life marked by frustrated romance events and various personal conflicts. Yet, he met remarkable goals, such as becoming an engineer, a military, an educator, a journalist and, even, a politician, not mention the fact that he was a successful writer. Not only he was a dedicated studious of Spanish grammar, but also knowledgeable in several languages; he translated Shakespeare's Othelo, and works from Victor Hugo, Byron, Musset, and Longfellow, among others. He wrote poetry as well as prose (e.g., drama, comedy, and novel), at a time when Black writing was nearly unknown or unappreciated. Moreover, vernacular literature and cultural production was signaled by anachronism and prejudice, mostly fashionable imitations of European streamline.(Bolanos 2004). Obeso pioneered a new vein by exploring and praising regional culture and vernacular art and language, as opposed to standard usage. Obeso reached out in search of his ethnic identity, thus he exalted Afro-descended traditions and regional folklore (Jauregui 2000). In fact, what Obeso reacted against was 19th century Colombian racial, cultural, and linguistic anachronism, by writing in Black (vernacular) dialect, a regional Afro-Hispanic speech that gave a peculiar style to his poetry (Porras 2007). To this purpose, he published a book of poems titled Cantos populares de mi tierra (Popular Chants from my Homeland) (1). Purist reactions emerged almost immediately both from Classic writers and intellectuals. Similarly, Obeso's articles published in mainstream Bogota newspapers stirred bitter criticism during the last two decades of the 19th century. Interestingly, far from retracting from his actions, Obeso dedicated many of his poems to well-known literary writers and intellectual figures of his time. However, it was not until the second or third decade of the 20th century that literary critics paid him some attention; indeed, it was not after the New National Constitutional Reform of 1992 that aboriginal and multiethnic cultures in Colombia had a fresh and well-deserved recognition. Although the actual circumstances of his death have never been cleared to satisfaction, two hypotheses stand out in the literature, one pointing to an accident with a gun (according to journal chronicles); the other pointing to a suicide (according to his friend, Juan de Dios Uribe). …