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Introduction - Racial Stories

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2022

Paulina L. Alberto
Affiliation:
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
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Summary

I introduce readers to Raúl Grigera, to master narratives of race (Whiteness and Blackness) in Argentina, and to the hundreds of defamatory stories by which Raúl came to be known and remembered. I use this corpus to sketch the composite story of his life that the book goes on to debunk and rewrite: his supposedly unknowable or inexplicable origins, his early orphandom and wayward youth, his spurious fame as a buffoon of the city’s elite, his oft-anticipated decline and death. Engaging with literature in psychology, critical race studies, literary theory, and other fields to explore narrative’s singularly persuasive power, the introduction develops the concept of “racial stories” and makes the case for the urgency of crafting new, critical counter-stories. It goes on to explore the problem of Black celebrity in a White nation where that idea was almost a contradiction in terms. Finally, it considers my own role as one more narrator of Raúl’s tale – yet another racial storyteller – and provides an overview of the book’s arguments and structure.

Type
Chapter
Information
Black Legend
The Many Lives of Raúl Grigera and the Power of Racial Storytelling in Argentina
, pp. 1 - 17
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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  • Racial Stories
  • Paulina L. Alberto, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  • Book: Black Legend
  • Online publication: 06 January 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108980111.001
Available formats
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  • Racial Stories
  • Paulina L. Alberto, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  • Book: Black Legend
  • Online publication: 06 January 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108980111.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Racial Stories
  • Paulina L. Alberto, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  • Book: Black Legend
  • Online publication: 06 January 2022
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108980111.001
Available formats
×