Santa Fe historiography and its references to the Afro-descendant presence in the city of Santa Fe. The case of the brown Claudia Chapaco.

Abstract

When carrying out a survey of the historiographic production dedicated to the study of the presence and actions of Africans and Afro-descendants in the city of Santa Fe, we found a very small number of works that refer to the issue. Only in recent decades has there been greater interest in those groups that, without a doubt, throughout the history of the town have been a constitutive part of the society that has inhabited it and continues to do so. However, throughout the 20th century two people of African descent have been the subject of references in newspapers, newspaper supplements and books. One of them is Demetrio Acosta, the “Negro Arigós”, a member of the troupe “Los Negros Santafesinos” and who was present in the Corsicans throughout the first half of that century. The other is Claudia Chapaco, a woman who lived south of the city during the 19th century and dedicated herself to selling Chipá. Both have been exponents of African descent in the city of Santa Fe and getting closer to knowing their lives and their relationships with other subjects and groups will allow us to know some important aspects of Santa Fe society.

Attentive to what has been expressed, in this work, we have set ourselves the objective of conducting a survey of the publications that refer to Claudia Chapaco, the “chipacera”, in order to carefully consider what has occurred, who has carried it out and what are the contributions with those who have contributed to its knowledge and that of those who were linked to it. To do this, we have resorted to the texts that we have been able to identify on these topics in different bibliographic repositories, such as the "Domingo F. Sarmiento" Pedagogical and Popular Library, the "Agustín Zapata Gollan" Library of the Juan de Garay Ethnographic and Colonial Museum and the Library of the Provincial Historical Museum of Santa Fe "Brig. Gral. Estanislao López", among others.