Racist Academia: From Microagressions and Threats to Witch-Hunts

In this episode, I had to ask Professor Erika Edwards to come back because you wanted more. In the previous episode we discussed her recently published books both in the US and in Argentina where she counters the widespread belief that the Argentine black population was killed in the War against Paraguay when in fact, practices of whitening through marriage, cohabitation and love by African slaves provided them the right to be Argentines and even disguise themselves in its alleged whiteness. Argentina claims not to be racist and even people from my generation accuses me of wagging the issue on my benefit when cancelled for daring to criticise and laugh about people who have chosen to put themselves in the public eye. Many others have said far worse things but I criticised in full knowledge of what I was criticising and with reason not only artists but also the artistic elite., So when I won the Peter Marzio Award and my History of Argentine Art was published by Penguin Random House, the real scandal exploded. Nothing had changed except that this time, the US had acknowledged my scholarly work and made me credible. So I was cancelled and a disappointingly weak Mary Carmen Ramirez who had signed up as director the award the jury allocated me in a fair competition, rescinded it without even giving me the benefit of a phone call. I was treated as garbage. Similarly, when Erika wrote her article for The Washington Post asking why there are not black fútbol players in the national team, she received insults, threats and a series of letters addressed to the dean of the university where she teaches and does her research asking him to fire her. It was then when the true colours of a violent, unfair and racists country appear to her. We discussed that but I also share my experience in British Academia where the ambivalence of my class, looks, sexuality and ethnicity has turned me into a threat not once but twice.

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