Arguing that race has been the specter that has haunted many of the discussions about Latin American regional and national cultures today, Anke Birkenmaier shows how theories of race and culture in Latin America evolved dramatically in the period between the two world wars. In response to the rise of scientific racism in Europe and the American hemisphere in the early twentieth century, anthropologists joined numerous writers and artists in founding institutions, journals, and museums that...

2021 Choice Outstanding Academic TitleThe Caribbean has long been a key area for empires warring over influence spheres, and where migration waves from Africa, Europe, and Asia accompanied every political transformation. In this volume, an interdisciplinary group of scholars studies the Caribbean’s “unincorporated subjects,” and explores how against all odds, Caribbean artists, filmmakers, and writers have been resourceful at showcasing migration as the ha...

En este novedoso y agudo estudio, Anke Birkenmaier muestra cómo, además de ser uno de los movimientos artísticos y literarios más importantes del siglo veinte, en los años 30 el surrealismo se alió a la entonces naciente cultura de masas. A partir de la trayectoria intelectual del cubano Alejo Carpentier, quien trabajó como libretista y profesional de la radio en Francia, Birkenmaier traza la fascinante historia de la época de entreguerras cuando franceses y latinoamericanos creían en el v...

Alejo Carpentier in Context examines one of the greatest novelists of Latin American literature in the 20th century. The Cuban Carpentier was one of the regions firmest supporters of the Cuban Revolution yet was revealed later to have hidden important details of his biography. A polymath of encyclopedic knowledge, contributions to this book showcase his influence, not only as a novelist but also as a musicologist, writer of ballet scenarios, radio broadcaster, opera aficionado and expert i...

Con la publicación de La decadencia de Occidente, el filósofo e historiador alemán Oswald Spengler (1880-1936) logró gran notoriedad en la década de 1920, al predecir la caída de las civilizaciones occidentales y desarrollar un esquema de procesos históricos recurrentes, una suerte de morfología comparativa de las culturas. Se proponía el análisis de ocho grandes culturas –junto a la Antigüedad y a Occidente, India, Babilonia, China, Egipto, Arabia y el México prehispánico–, pero omitió el...

In Havana beyond the Ruins, prominent architects, scholars, and writers based in and outside of Cuba analyze how Havana has been portrayed in literature, music, and the visual arts since Soviet subsidies of Cuba ceased, and the Cuban state has re-imagined Havana as a destination for international tourists and business ventures. Cuba’s capital has experienced little construction since the revolution of 1959; many of its citizens live in poorly maintained colonial and modernist dwel...