Latin American Popular Culture: An Introduction - Softcover

This fascinating new 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).

In addition to the everyday aspects of Latin American life, this book includes theoretical approaches to Latin American popular culture, such as the invention of traditions, the creation of national identity, the formation of gender roles, and the prevalence of ethnicity. This book is an entertaining introduction to the complex and unique world of Latin American history, popular culture, and civilization.

Exploring the cultural focus of an entire continent is a daunting task, but for the 13 academics hereDmission accomplished. The essays, only two of which are reprints, share the Latin American theme yet represent unique contributions to scholarship by employing cultural events or activities to relate a nation's history and social awareness. Essays by Pamela Voekel and Matthew D. Esposito take a cemetery and a funeral as their settings, while two other articles report on national exhibits at world expositions to demonstrate the efforts of Argentina and Ecuador to present themselves as civilized nations. John Chasteen, Darien Davis, and Graham Holton turn to music and dance as forms of popular culture. In one of the reprinted essays, Nancy Stepan reviews a volume of photographs depicting medicine and health in Brazil. Collectively, the essays overcome the stigma often attached to the study of popular culture as a legitimate academic discipline that provides insight into intellectual and cultural character and the distinguishing "images, practices, and institutions" that create national identities. Recommended for academic libraries.DBoyd Childress, Auburn Univ. Lib., AL
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