User:Ataxualpa/Nicomedes Santa Cruz

Nicomedes Santa Cruz
Nicomedes Santa Cruz was a blacksmith turned one of the most influential Afro-Peruvians of the modern era. He was born in La Victoria, a district of Lima, Peru also known as one of the blackest area of Lima. His works encompass Afro-Peruvian culture's contributions to Peru's overall culture. As a poet and essayist, Santa Cruz often wrote about the presence of negritude in Peru's history, music, dance, and cuisine, among many other things. He published ten books in his lifetime and often crossed genres. Santa Cruz is credited with being one of those who contributed to the revival of the poetic form of the décima. Santa Cruz was a brilliant musicologist who aided in the restoration of Afro-Peruvian music such as festejo, zaña, landó, panalivio, and others. Along with his sister, he recorded many rhythms that were previously lost. They studied the music and the dances that accompanied them and published their findings in great detail, recognizing the complexities of Afro-Peruvian culture. He created a theatre company that presented topics relating to the social issues of Afro-Peruvians. While Nicomedes made immense contributions to the recognition of Afro-Peruvian culture, the scope of his impact is far greater as he delivered the oral history of historically oppressed and invisible people.

Pancho Fierro & Cumanana Companies

In 1952, Nicomedes and his sister Victoria attended a performance of the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, where they were impacted by a rite of African fertility known as ‘Rites de Passage.’ Santa Cruz described the experience as the first positive demonstration of blackness in Peru. Santa Cruz joined the theatre company known as the Pancho Fierro Company, named after a painter who captured Afro-Peruvian dances in his works. Santa Cruz began his own all-black theatre company called Cumanana. In creating and participating in these companies, Santa Cruz challenged the invisibility of blackness in Peru. Cumanana’s works often tackled topics of social issues for black people in Peru and internalized racism and inequality. They used the company to mentor young Afro-Peruvians to rediscover their blackness. Santa Cruz and his sister Victoria delivered a repertoire that would separate the identities of Afro-Peruvians from those of the White Criollos. It would also highlight the contributions of Afro-Peruvians to the Criollo culture. Cumanana presented comedies and dramas often set in the times of slavery or in historic Lima.

Decimas

In his poetry collection entitled Decimas, Santa Cruz explores a new perspective of the Afro-Peruvian from their point of arrival in Peru to highlight the true contributions to Peruvian culture. Using the poetic form known as the décima to highlight Afro-Peruvian folklore, he asserts the presence of the Black identity and consciousness in Peru. While characterizing the Decima of Peru, he constructs a narrative that lends itself to living libraries, more commonly referred to as griots, who were known to spread oral history and folklore.

Cumanana

In Cumanana, Santa Cruz uses a variety of poetic forms to deliver political messages and make one question whether art should be made with meaning or for no reason. In this collection of poems, he uses a more pointed tone that lends to Santa Cruz finding his voice. Santa Cruz also uses Cumananas to reference the exploitation of Peruvian oil fields by the United States.

The Works

The works of Nicomedes Santa Cruz often fall under three categories of themes. A celebration of the importance and value of black culture, history, and traditions; the reason to fight again racism and discrimination, and his commitment to social justice and anti-imperialism. He was among the first black intellectuals who blended their agenda for social justice with a need to fight against the invisibility and oppression black people face.

Santa Cruz's account of the first time he experienced racism is when he asked for a woman's hand in marriage. The woman's family declined and claimed they had to improve the race. He later became aware of the invisibility of black people through watching black historical figures be silenced or erased from mainstream historical accounts. He claims that this is where he realized his task, using poetry as a form of denunciation of racism and erasure.

Life In Spain

Santa Cruz left Peru in the year 1980 to live in Spain, his mother's native country. This is where he published La Decima en el Peru, published two years later in 1982. It was also in 1982 that he began to direct a cultural program on Spanish international public radio. He took a brief break from the air in 1988, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and underwent a successful medical procedure. He was involved in many projects prior to his death in 1992, including those of the commemoration of Columbus's arrival in the Americas.

Legacy

Nicomedes Santa Cruz's legacy is one that today is still unknown by many Peruvians. Unaware of the work that he along with his sister and other black figures did to ensure that the history of black Peruvians remain a part of history.