Semana Cinco

The movie we watched in class today was amazing! This is one of the main reasons why I wanted to take this course I am really glad we got the opportunity to talk about the African roots of Tango. I found it so fascinating that the one researcher predicted that the entire Buenos Aires' population was black from 1920 to 1930! It is even harder to believe that almost all of the black population left or was forced out of Buenos Aires and it is difficult to find many black folks there today. Listening to some of the music really helped see the black influence. I found the readings really interesting as well. All of the readings addressed issues of gender, class, and race that exist in Tango, all of them which with I agree with. I find myself in an interesting love and hate relationship with Tango. I really enjoy the dancing and the intimate moments you experience with other people, but I also have a hard time ignoring the politics behind it and the history of tango with adds a lot of context and in my opinion, learning about the history and culture is an important part of learning Tango. It was sad to see other Argentinians who were not aware of the black influence, one man who was interviewed even said black didn't deserve any of the credit for the Argentinian Tango. This bothered so much, it seemed hypocritical from a culture which is all about respect and honoring the old traditions, to  disregard the black influence and erase everything black from their history. But complex is a better word. Watching the film and the class discussion on the readings really opened my eyes to see how complex and multi-layered the Tango culture really is.