Systematization of URACCAN´S Afro Commission Experience On the pathway to transforming URACCAN Bluefields into a Black Studies campus 2010-2017

Hodgson Suárez, Eva (2018) Systematization of URACCAN´S Afro Commission Experience On the pathway to transforming URACCAN Bluefields into a Black Studies campus 2010-2017. Documentation. URACCAN, Bluefields. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

The following systematization of the Afro Commission takes a retrospective look to analyze what have been done, which have been the learning experiences and where do we head forward. It takes a critical approach into understanding what it means to center blackness as a central theme of work and discussion at the University of the Autonomous Regions of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua (URACCAN), which is an institution that defines itself as communitarian and intercultural. The University authorities considered it appropriate to establish the Afro Commission in the Bluefields campus so that the university will better serve the Afro-descendant communities of the Coast. This constitutes the first step into converting this site into a Black Studies campus. Seven years after the establishment of the Afro Commission, authorities and members of the commission reflected on the accomplishment and challenges confronted. This retrospective process reveals the emotional weight triggered on members of the commission who have been committed to the task of centering blackness and black issues in a multicultural site. At the beginning no one was certain of which is the path to follow. Nevertheless, through various attempts of creating, failure and rebuilding gave shape to what is today the Afro Commission. This systematization centers on the experiences of the Afro Commission mainly because, what at first was thought to be a relatively easy task, evolved into challenges and oppositions. It was considered this way because in an intercultural context supposedly, “racism doesn’t exist,” the Commission would be fully supported by all the ethnics groups. Obviously, this was an erroneous assumption. Nevertheless, each experience and lesson has a valuable impact on members of the commission at a personal and collective level. And it serves to establish a better positioning of those who decided to remain committed to the Afro Commission and are convinced that Black Studies must be a priority at URACCAN Bluefield’s campus.

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