Lydia Cabrera and the Construction of an Afro-Cuban Cultural Identity

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, Central & South American, Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Folklore & Mythology, Anthropology
Cover of the book Lydia Cabrera and the Construction of an Afro-Cuban Cultural Identity by Edna M. Rodríguez-Plate, The University of North Carolina Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Edna M. Rodríguez-Plate ISBN: 9780807876282
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press Publication: November 16, 2005
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press Language: English
Author: Edna M. Rodríguez-Plate
ISBN: 9780807876282
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication: November 16, 2005
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Language: English

Lydia Cabrera (1900-1991), an upper-class white Cuban intellectual, spent many years traveling through Cuba collecting oral histories, stories, and music from Cubans of African descent. Her work is commonly viewed as an extension of the work of her famous brother-in-law, Cuban anthropologist Fernando Ortiz, who initiated the study of Afro-Cubans and the concept of transculturation. Here, Edna Rodriguez-Mangual challenges this perspective, proposing that Cabrera's work offers an alternative to the hegemonizing national myth of Cuba articulated by Ortiz and others.

Rodriguez-Mangual examines Cabrera's ethnographic essays and short stories in context. By blurring fact and fiction, anthropology and literature, Cabrera defied the scientific discourse used by other anthropologists. She wrote of Afro-Cubans not as objects but as subjects, and in her writings, whiteness, instead of blackness, is gazed upon as the "other." As Rodriguez-Mangual demonstrates, Cabrera rewrote the history of Cuba and its culture through imaginative means, calling into question the empirical basis of anthropology and placing Afro-Cuban contributions at the center of the literature that describes the Cuban nation and its national identity.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Lydia Cabrera (1900-1991), an upper-class white Cuban intellectual, spent many years traveling through Cuba collecting oral histories, stories, and music from Cubans of African descent. Her work is commonly viewed as an extension of the work of her famous brother-in-law, Cuban anthropologist Fernando Ortiz, who initiated the study of Afro-Cubans and the concept of transculturation. Here, Edna Rodriguez-Mangual challenges this perspective, proposing that Cabrera's work offers an alternative to the hegemonizing national myth of Cuba articulated by Ortiz and others.

Rodriguez-Mangual examines Cabrera's ethnographic essays and short stories in context. By blurring fact and fiction, anthropology and literature, Cabrera defied the scientific discourse used by other anthropologists. She wrote of Afro-Cubans not as objects but as subjects, and in her writings, whiteness, instead of blackness, is gazed upon as the "other." As Rodriguez-Mangual demonstrates, Cabrera rewrote the history of Cuba and its culture through imaginative means, calling into question the empirical basis of anthropology and placing Afro-Cuban contributions at the center of the literature that describes the Cuban nation and its national identity.

More books from The University of North Carolina Press

Cover of the book Creek Paths and Federal Roads by Edna M. Rodríguez-Plate
Cover of the book The Social Origins of the Urban South by Edna M. Rodríguez-Plate
Cover of the book These Are Our Lives by Edna M. Rodríguez-Plate
Cover of the book The Book of Salsa by Edna M. Rodríguez-Plate
Cover of the book Humor of a Country Lawyer by Edna M. Rodríguez-Plate
Cover of the book Grassroots Garveyism by Edna M. Rodríguez-Plate
Cover of the book Ladies, Women, and Wenches by Edna M. Rodríguez-Plate
Cover of the book Days of Hope by Edna M. Rodríguez-Plate
Cover of the book Thomas Day by Edna M. Rodríguez-Plate
Cover of the book Hanoi's War by Edna M. Rodríguez-Plate
Cover of the book Synthetic Socialism by Edna M. Rodríguez-Plate
Cover of the book Civil War Canon by Edna M. Rodríguez-Plate
Cover of the book The Birth of a New Europe by Edna M. Rodríguez-Plate
Cover of the book Black Muslim Religion in the Nation of Islam, 1960-1975 by Edna M. Rodríguez-Plate
Cover of the book The Land Was Ours by Edna M. Rodríguez-Plate
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy