ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the Black cultural integration in Colombia involves perpetuating and rearticulating stereotypes based on physical exoticism and projections of infinite happiness and sensual body movements. It argues that in the aftermath of Colombia's recognition of multiculturalism, Black populations have now acquired a specific kind of 'visibility' that serves the purposes of global tourism. For Afro-Colombians, visibility is often restricted to spaces related to music and dance, like the carnival. Analyzing carnivals from a political viewpoint provides a whole perspective on a social institution that is highly structured. The chapter explains how the city of Cartagena became a hub for international tourism. It addresses 'invisibility' and 'avoidance', two notions that have been used in past studies about Black Colombians. The chapter discusses history of carnival troupes that claim Blackness in Cartagena, specifically the Ekobios troupe, and shows how the tourism industry recurs to images that perpetuate racial stereotypes in their representations of Afro-Colombians.
