The New Immigration from Sub Saharan Africa in Argentina. Its contribution to the increasing visibilization process of the local Afro descendant community

Abstract

The Cape Verdeans were the main immigrant contingents arriving in Argentina from the Sub Saharan Africa, between the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. Since around the 1990s, immigrants began to arrive from different countries of that region (Senegalese, Nigerian, Congolese, Ghanaian, among others), increasing since the year 2000. This paper aims, firstly, to characterize this new migration taking into account: tendencies and patters of the mentioned African region: the migratory policies increasingly restrictive of the main “Northern” countries, and especially, the political, economic and migratory changes in Argentina taking place in the last two decades. Secondly, our purpose it to analyze the role that these immigrants play in the formation and recreation of social spaces together with other Africans already living in the country and with Afro descendants, as regards the increasing process of visibilization and fight for citizens’ rights that is being carried out in Argentina.