Descripciones mejoradas de Syndetics:

"Now everybody loves Puerto Rican culture," says a Puerto Rican schoolteacher and festival organizer, "but that's exactly the problem." Thus begins this major examination of cultural nationalism as a political construct involving party ideologies, corporate economic goals, and grassroots cultural groups.



Author Arlene Davila focuses on the Institute for Puerto Rican Culture, the government institution charged with defining authenticated views of national identity since the 1950s, and on popular festival organizers to illuminate contestations over appropriate representations of culture in the increasingly mass-mediated context of contemporary Puerto Rico. She examines the creation of an essentialist view of nationhood based on a peasant culture and a "unifying" Hispanic heritage, and the ways in which grassroots organizations challenge and reconfigure definitions of national identity through their own activities and representations.



Davila pays particular attention to the increasing prominence of corporate sponsorship in determining what is distinguished as authentic "Puerto Rican culture" and discusses the politicization of culture as a discourse to debate and legitimize conflicting claims from selling commercial product to advocating divergent status options for the island. In so doing, Davila illuminates the prospects for cultural identities in an increasingly transnational context by showing the growth of cultural nationalism to be intrinsically connected to forms of political action directed to the realm of culture and cultural politics. This in-depth examination also makes clear that despite contemporary concerns with "authenticity," commercialism is an inescapable aspect of all cultural expression on the island.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Preface(p. xi)
• Abbreviations(p. xviii)
• Introduction Making and Marketing National Identities(p. 1)
• Chapter I Securing the Nation through Politics(p. 24)
• Chapter II The Institute of Puerto Rican Culture and the Building Blocks of Nationality(p. 60)
• Chapter III From the Center to the Centros Cultural Politics from Below(p. 99)
• Chapter IV Just One More Festival New Actors in Caone's Cultural Politics(p. 127)
• Chapter V Culture, Politics, and Corporate Sponsorship(p. 169)
• Chapter VI Contesting the Nation, Contesting Identities(p. 217)
• Conclusion: Cassettes, Posters, and Bumper Stickers(p. 248)
• Notes(p. 263)
• Bibliography(p. 275)
• Index(p. 295)

Reseñas proporcionadas por Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Davila's timely study demonstrates how people and institutions assert and contest national identities in a colonial society and global context. The ways that Puerto Ricans express their identity in everyday life are shaped by, but also shape, dominant definitions of national identity. Davila, a Puerto Rican anthropologist, shows how the island government, operating within limits imposed by the US government, promoted a definition of national identity through organizations like the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture. This official identity emphasized rural, male, and Hispanic traditions in contrast to the prevailing trends of urbanization and industrialization. The US and the "modern" were the "Other" to the official conception of Puerto Rican culture. This definition, which marginalized many Puerto Ricans, has been challenged by local grassroots organizations, and also contends with the increasingly powerful influence of corporate sponsors like Winston and Budweiser. Popular festivals and commercial concerns have made "Puerto Ricanness" both more flexible and more inclusive. Davila's subtle analysis of these complex and changing interrelationships contributes to understanding the dynamics of the marketing and the politics of culture elsewhere. Highly recommended for cultural and Caribbean studies, undergraduates and above. O. N. Bolland Colgate University

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Arlene Davila is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Syracuse University. She has previous work experience with museums and cultural institutions.