E-Books →Geographies of Cubanidad Place, Race, and Musical Performance in Contemporary Cuba

Rebecca M. Bodenheimer, "Geographies of Cubanidad: Place, Race, and Musical Performance in Contemporary Cuba "
English | ISBN: 1628462396 | 2015 | 328 pages | PDF | 4 MB
Derived from the nationalist writings of José Martí, the concept of Cubanidad (Cubanness) has always imagined a unified hybrid nation where racial difference is nonexistent and nationality trumps all other axes identities. Scholars have critiqued this celebration of racial mixture, highlighting a gap between the claim of racial harmony and the realities of inequality faced by Afro-Cubans since independence in 1898. In this book, Rebecca M. Bodenheimer argues that it is not only the recognition of racial difference that threatens to divide the nation, but that popular regional sentiment further contests the hegemonic national discourse. Given that the music is a prominent symbol of , musical practices play an important role in constructing regional, local, and national identities.