Diaspora - Cecile Smetana Baudier

In 2015, the Afro-Mexican community were finally recognized by the Mexican government, but in the small villages of Costa Chica, Oaxaca, people are still struggling to regain their identity.

Chacahua, located in a national park in Oaxaca, Mexico seems at times isolated and disconnected to the outside world. It is difficult to get there and expensive to leave.

The region of Costa Chica

Childhood is over before it’s starts. Most women here, will be mothers by the time they turn 17, some are younger.

Both men and women are expected to have children at young age.

Yaymi on the prairie

The river separates the village of Chacahua into two parts; the mainland and the island. Boys are swimming in the river after school.

In Mexico, it is mandatory to wear school uniforms. The girls wear white long socks and the boys long pants, regardless of the hot temperature.

She paints her face white, with makeup powder, putting more and more on, until she achieves the look of a white woman. Karen is only 12 years old, her hair is almost blond and her eyes are light cinnamon colored. She refuses to be called afro-mexican. She says, she doesn't like the word.

Zoe wants to be a designer. Her mother explains that they have to move, in order for her daughter to get a better education. Even though school is free here, the books and the commute is expensive, making education an option only provided for the rich.

The sun goes down early and the streets are empty in the town of El azufre.

In El azufre: Most inhabitants are up before sunrise, preparing for the day, before the sun gets too hot and the mosquito's too aggressive. The women usually bakes tortillas in the kitchen and the men goes fishing.

Jessie's watching telenovelas, Mexican soap operas. "Its like a fantasy", she says.

Mitchel clings to Nicolasa, her grandmother. Family is the center of most people’s lives in El azufre and many who are born here, never leaves.

In the laguna of El azufre

Gonzalo is 30 years old. He is now a she, and is living his life as a women. She is part of the small transgender community in Costa Chica. Despite fleeing to the states and getting deported again, she is a positive person, saying that she won’t attempt again. “It’s not worth it. All of my family is here”.

Karen outside of her home in El azufre.

In order to leave the village of Chacahua, one must pay the taxi driver, the fairy and then the bus. It cost around 50 pesos, which is a lot of money for most people in this region.

The dust enters every window, every crack and there are not many trees, to protect you from the sun.

Nobody owns a functioning toilet, but everybody owns a big television, which is usually placed next to the religious artifacts in the livingroom. There is a small church here, but only few attends.

In 2015, the Mexican government finally recognized its 1.38 million citizens of African descent in a national survey signifying a tremendous victory for the Afro-Mexican community who had up to that moment largely gone unnoticed on the margins of Mexican society.

This long overdue recognition of the Afro-Mexican community will hopefully lead to an increased academic interest in their cultural history as well as subsequent cause to greater commemorate their legacy as part of the country's overall history. In addition, this new shift towards inclusion might finally provide a much needed impetus for improving the social services currently available to these communities.
Costa Chica, mostly famous for its beautiful beaches and surf spots, is also the home of many Afro-Mexicans.

Here, in the center of the national park of Chacahua, lies the small fishing village of El azure.

Ngola, an older gentlemen who has lived here all of his life says “I know that we came here from Africa, but that is all I know”. He fantasizes of what it might be like living there, if it’s dangerous or safe, if it’s rich or poor.

The history of the Afro-Mexican people is not taught in school and in this particular village, Afro-Mexican culture is close to nonexistent.
Connection to the outside world is limited. Though most people have mobile phones, the network is spotty at best, and the internet as well as even newspapers are things that have yet to make their debut in the daily lives of the inhabitants. The limited exposure to the outside world comes via television when families gather after dinner to watch the night time soap operas with mexican casts that look more like Californians than anyone from the region.
People of color are simply not represented in the mexican media landscape so the notion of dark skinned mexicans has no place in the present white washed pop-culture manifestations of what an authentic mainstream mexican society is thought to look like. In a country that idealizes the anything with a 'western aesthetic', Afro-Mexican's are often considered too black to be considered ‘real’ Mexicans.

Nicolasa, a generous and proud woman in her sixties, still dyes her greying hair black. She looks straight into the camera and says, “ We are not used to people thinking that we are beautiful”.

Diaspora is the start of a long-term photo project, focusing on the African Identity within Afro-communities in the Americas and Europe.

This project was made possible from the help of The National Park of Chacahua

CECILE SMETANA