Synopses & Reviews
The function of dance in Latin/o American culture is the focus of the essays collected in
Everynight Life. The contributors interpret how Latin/o culture expresses itself through dance, approaching the material from the varying perspectives of literary, cultural, dance, performance, queer, and feminist studies. Viewing dance as privileged sites of identity formation and cultural resistance in Latin/o America,
Everynight Life translates the motion of bodies into speech, and the gestures of dance into a provocative socio-political grammar.
This anthology looks at many modes of danceandmdash;including salsa, merengue, cumbia, rumba, mambo, tango, samba, and norteandntilde;oandmdash;as models for the interplay of cultural memory and regional conflict. Barbara Browningandrsquo;s essay on capoeira, for instance, demonstrates how dance has been used as a literal form of resistance, while Josandeacute; Piedra explores the meanings conveyed by women of color dancing the rumba. Pieces such as Gustavo Perez Fandiacute;rmatandrsquo;s andquot;I Came, I Saw, I Congaandrsquo;dandquot; and Jorge Salessiandrsquo;s andquot;Medics, Crooks, and Tango Queensandquot; illustrate the lively scope of this volumeandrsquo;s subject matter.
Contributors. Barbara Browning, Celeste Fraser Delgado, Jane C. Desmond, Mayra Santos Febres, Juan Carlos Quintero Herencia, Josh Kun, Ana M. Landoacute;pez, Josandeacute; Esteban Muandntilde;oz, Josandeacute; Piedra, Gustavo Perez Fandiacute;rmat, Augusto C. Puleo, David Romandaacute;n, Jorge Salessi, Alberto Sandoval
Review
andldquo;Everynight Life is a major contribution to the ongoing investigation of specific cultural practices heretofore ignored by traditional academic investigation. It will be of specific value to scholars and critics studying issues of performance and performativity as they inform practices of subject-formation in its political, cultural, and sexual dimensions.andrdquo;andmdash;Ricardo Ortiz, Dartmouth College
Review
andldquo;This is an exciting and an important book, just the kind of contribution that many of us have been eager to find. It weaves politics with popular culture, national borders with rhythm. In short itandrsquo;s up-to-date in terms of intellectual issues, and sensitively down-to-earth in ways that make practical sense.andrdquo;andmdash;Doris Sommer, Harvard University
Synopsis
Culture and Dance in Latino America: This anthology looks at many modes of dance--including salsa, merengue, cumbia, rumba, mambo, tango, samba, and norteno--as models for the interplay of cultural memory and regional conflict.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [345]-358) and index.
About the Author
“Everynight Life is a major contribution to the ongoing investigation of specific cultural practices heretofore ignored by traditional academic investigation. It will be of specific value to scholars and critics studying issues of performance and performativity as they inform practices of subject-formation in its political, cultural, and sexual dimensions.”—Ricardo Ortiz, Dartmouth College“This is an exciting and an important book, just the kind of contribution that many of us have been eager to find. It weaves politics with popular culture, national borders with rhythm. In short it’s up-to-date in terms of intellectual issues, and sensitively down-to-earth in ways that make practical sense.”—Doris Sommer, Harvard University
Table of Contents
About the Series ix
Preface: Politics in Motion / Celeste Fraser Delgado 3
Rebellions of Everynight Life / Celeste Fraser Delgado and Josandeacute; Esteban Muandntilde;oz 9
Embodying Difference: Issues in Dance and Cultural Studies / Jane C. Desmond 33
Headspin: Capoeira's Ironic Inversions / Barbara Browning 65
Hip Poetics / Josandeacute; Piedra 93
Medics, Crooks, and Tango Queens: The National Appropriation of a Gay Tango / Jorge Salessi (Translated by Celeste Fraser Delgado) 141
Salsa as Translocation / Mayra Santos Febres 175
Notes toward a Reading of Salsa / Juan Carlos Quintero Herencia (Translated by Celeste Fraser Delgado) 189
Una Verdadera crandoacute;nica del Norte: Una noche con la India / Augusto C. Puleo (Translated by Celeste Fraser Delgado) 223
I Came, I Saw, I Conga'd: Contexts for a Cuban-American Culture / Gustavo Pandeacute;rez Firmat 239
Caught in the Web: Latinidad, AIDS, and Allegory in Kiss of the Spider Woman, the Musical / David Romandaacute;n and Alberto Sandoval 255
Against Easy Listening: Audiotopic Readings and Transnational Soundings / Josh Kun 288
Of Rhythms and Borders / Ana M. Landoacute;pez 310
Bibliography 345
Index 359
Contributors 365