Vestigios de la ritualidad y representación mágico-religiosa de la cultura afrocubana durante la colonia en el teatro bufo

From colonial to post-colonial times, African rituals and other magical-religious manifestations have served as a constant aesthetic resource in the representation of Afro-Cubans in the theater. In this essay, I analyze black face theater or teatro bufo to trace pioneering plays that employed Afro-Cuban rituals to portray blackness during the 19th century. By examining several works, especially Mefistófeles by Ignacio Sarachaga (1896), I show how elements such as music, speech, and the practice of Afro-Cuban religion are portrayed not only as part of the racist mockery typical of this theatrical genre, but also as a mechanism with which to confront the colonial Spanish regime and to propose a more dynamic and technically complex staging.