Synopses & Reviews
Neither immigrants nor ethnics, neither foreign nor "hyphenated Americans" in the usual sense of that term, Puerto Ricans in New York have created a distinct identity both on the island of Puerto Rico and in the cultural landscape of the United States. Juan Flores considers the uniqueness of Puerto Rican culture and identity in relation to that of other Latino groups in the United States -as well as to other minority groups, especially African Americans. Architecture and urban space, literary traditions, musical styles, and cultural movements provide some of the sites and moments of a cultural world defined by the interplay of continuity and transformation, heritage and innovation, roots and fusion. Exploring this wide range of cultural expression both in the diaspora and in Puerto Rico Flores highlights the rich complexities and fertile contradictions of Latino identity.
Review
"There is nothing like From Bomba to Hip-Hop at present certainly no other book that combines in-depth experience with the culture, the sophistication of the author's theoretical foundations, and the eloquence of his style." George Yúdice, New York University
Review
"As our music becomes popular, our books become classroom texts, our foods deck the covers of magazines, and we are lauded as the new spice of American culture or alternatively feared as its new invaders we become lumped together as Latinos and Hispanics: the new millennial minority. All the more need for a book like Juan Flores's From Bomba to Hip-Hop, an encyclopedic and yet deftly written study of Puerto Rican culture and Latino identity... [This book] helps define our complexities, tell our history, and map our future." Julia Álvarez, author of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents
About the Author
Juan Flores is professor of Black and Puerto Rican studies at Hunter College and professor of sociology at the CUNY Graduate Center, and has written and lectured widely on the subject of Puerto Rican and Latino culture. His publications include Divided Borders: Essays on Puerto Rican Culture and La venganza de Cortijo y otros ensayos.