Latin American Popular Culture : An Introduction

by Beezley, William H.

• ISBN13: 9780842027113
• ISBN10: 0842027114
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-09-01
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Pub Inc

Summary

This fascinating book gives readers a firsthand look at the popular culture of Latin America -- its dance, cooking, art, carnivals, music, romance, funerals, monuments, medicine, and humor. Popular culture encapsulates the pleasure in everyday life, and Latin American Popular Culture shows how it offers moments of laughter (through jokes, satire, and simple foolishness); of delight from jobs well done (whether cooking, plowing, fixing a carburetor, or setting a table with flowers); of escape from dreary daily life (in festivals, drinking, romance, or dreams created by comic books and television); and of living well (by listening to current music, dancing the latest steps, or wearing the hottest fashions). This book is an entertaining introduction to the complex and unique world of Latin American history, popular culture, and civilization.

Author Biography

Thomas L. Benjamin is professor of history at Central Michigan University John Charles Chasteen is professor of history at the University of North Carolina Darien J. Davis is associate professor at Middlebury College Lauren (Robin) H. Derby is visiting professor at the University of Chicago Matthew D. Esposito is assistant professor of history at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa Ingrid E. Fey is adjunct professor at UCLA Stephen Jay Gould is a paleontologist at Harvard University Graham E. L. Holton received the University Medal for his dissertation, at LaTrobe University, Bundoora, Australia Fanni Munoz Cabrejo completed her doctoral program through the Department of History at El Colegio de Mexico in 1999 Blanca Muratorio is professor of anthropology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver Jeffrey M. Pilcher is assistant professor at the Citadel, in Charleston, South Carolina Nancy Leys Stepan is a historian at Columbia University Pamela Voekel is assistant professor of history at the University of Montana

Table of Contents

Introduction	xi
Piety and Public Space: The Cemetery Campaign in Veracruz, 1789--1810	1	(26)
Pamela Voekel
Church, Humboldt, and Darwin: The Tension and Harmony of Art and Science	27	(16)
Stephen Jay Gould
Black Kings, Blackface Carnival, and Nineteenth-Century Origins of the Tango	43	(18)
John Charles Chasteen
Peddling the Pampas: Argentina at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1889	61	(26)
Ingrid E. Fey
Death and Disorder in Mexico City: The State Funeral of Manuel Romero Rubio	87	(18)
Matthew D. Esposito
Images of Indians in the Construction of Ecuadorian Identity at the End of the Nineteenth Century	105	(18)
Blanca Muratorio
Many Chefs in the National Kitchen: Cookbooks and Identity in Nineteenth-Century Mexico	123	(20)
Jeffrey M. Pilcher
Portraits of a Possible Nation: Photographing Medicine in Brazil	143	(12)
Nancy Leys Stepan
The New Order: Diversions and Modernization in Turn-of-the-Century Lima	155	(14)
Fanni Munoz Cabrejo
From the Ruins of the Ancien Regime: Mexico's Monument to the Revolution	169	(14)
Thomas L. Benjamin
Racial Parity and National Humor: Exploring Brazilian Samba from Noel Rosa to Carmen Miranda, 1930-1939	183	(18)
Darien J. Davis
Oil, Race, and Calypso in Trinidad and Tobago, 1909--1990	201	(12)
Graham E. L. Holton
The Dictator's Seduction: Gender and State Spectacle during the Trujillo Regime	213	(28)
Lauren H. Derby
Video Distributors	241	(2)
About the Contributors	243	(4)
Index	247