ABSTRACT
Africans and Afro-descendants have a long yet hidden history of participation in the Argentine political sphere. The concept of a Black political subject in the nation seems impossible for dominant Argentine society. This is due to the reality that Blackness itself has been separated from phenotype in the nation and Afro-Argentines have been rendered invisible through a carefully engineered nation-building project to transform Argentina into a White, European and modern country. Regional pressure from Blacks organizing in other Latin American nations has served as motivation as well as Barack Obama's presidential campaign marking potential shifts in United States racial politics. Omar Obaca's biggest joke is that a Black man could ever be president of the White nation of Argentina. Obaca, for dominant Argentine society, demonstrates the impossibility of a Black Argentine political subject. Organizing around Black identity is a fairly recent phenomenon in Argentina with most of the political gains only beginning around 2005.
