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This dissertation investigates the poetry, song and spoken word of Nicomedes Santa Cruz, a central figure in the Afro-Peruvian revival of the mid-twentieth century. Using both postcolonial and decolonial approaches, particularly Quijano’s concept of coloniality/modernity, it explores how Santa Cruz’s work reveals the paradoxical persistence of colonial structures in the modern world, particularly as manifested in Peru. I argue that Santa Cruz’s poetry, song and spoken word challenged the homogenizing criollo-mestizo national ideology by centering attention on Afro-Peruvian decolonial struggles and diasporic connections that were marginalized in postcolonial Peru.
In this dissertation, I use the expression decolonizing modernity in two complementary ways: first, to refer to how Santa Cruz’s work represents an artistic intervention in the paradoxical nature of modernity and its postcolonial manifestations in Peru; and second, to articulate my scholarly intervention in Santa Cruz’s work, revealing its decolonial and diasporic implications by interrogating the foundations of modernity. By merging poetry with song, Santa Cruz reimagined artistic forms as vehicles for social transformation, addressing issues such as neocolonialism, racism, classism and Negritude diasporic solidarity. Santa Cruz’s work not only revitalized Afro-Peruvian culture but also contributes to ongoing global dialogues on cultural resilience and decolonization.
In chapter 1, I offer a decolonial analysis of Western modernity from philosophical, historical, and Black perspectives to lay the groundwork for understanding Santa Cruz’s work. In chapter 2, I focus on the aspects of Santa Cruz’s poetry and song such as poetic forms, musical instruments, and music genres. This chapter outlines both literary and musicological aspects for understanding the subsequent chapters. In chapter 3, I translate and analyze the poetry Santa Cruz composed between 1957 and 1980, a period during which he published the six poetry collections that constituted his poetic oeuvre. In chapter 4, I explore Santa Cruz’s music recordings. Here, I translate and analyze the songs and spoken words he penned between 1959 and 1980, a period during which he recorded thirteen albums. Ultimately, I seek to demonstrate how Santa Cruz’s poetry, song and spoken word engaged with and disrupted the colonial structures that shaped postcolonial Peru and beyond.