Cuban Counterpoints

While Fernando Ortiz's contribution to our understanding of Cuba and Latin America more generally has been widely recognized since the 1940s, recently there has been renewed interest in this scholar and activist who made lasting contributions to a staggering array of fields. This book is the first work in English to reassess Ortiz's vast intellectual universe. Essays in this volume analyze and celebrate his contribution to scholarship in Cuban history, the social sciences--notably anthropology--and law, religion and national identity, literature, and music. Presenting Ortiz's seminal thinking, including his profoundly influential concept of 'transculturation', Cuban Counterpoints explores the bold new perspectives that he brought to bear on Cuban society. Much of his most challenging and provocative thinking--which embraced simultaneity, conflict, inherent contradiction and hybridity--has remarkable relevance for current debates about Latin America's complex and evolving societies.

ISBN 0739109685   Pages 316 ISBN13 9780739109687 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Lexington Books   Weight (grammes) 431 Imprint Lexington Books   Published in Lanham, MD Format Paperback   Series title Bildner Western Hemisphere Studies Publication date 28 Oct 2004   Height (mm) 227 Library of Congress 2004018662   Width (mm) 151 DEWEY 972.9106092   Spine width (mm) 18 DEWEY edition DC22   Academic level General

		Introduction : the intellectual legacy of Fernando Ortiz by Mauricio A. Font and Alfonso W. Quiroz and Pamela Maria Smorkaloff
1		Fernando Ortiz, my father by Maria Fernanda Ortiz Herrera		3
2		Spanish intellectuals and Fernando Ortiz (1900-1941) by Consuelo Naranjo Orovio and Miguel Angel Puig-Samper Mulero		9
3		It all started in Madrid by Octavio di Leo		39
4		Ethnography at the University of Havana by Maria del Rosario Diaz		55
5		Transculturation and nationalism by Rafael Rojas		65
6		The early republic : politics, civic culture, and sovereignty by Marifeli Perez-Stable		73
7		The political ideas of Fernando Ortiz (1906-1933) by Carmen Almodovar		89
8		Economic historian and editor of Cuban classics by Jose Matos Arevalos		95
9		Tobacco in the Contrapunteo : Ortiz and the Havana cigar by Jean Stubbs		105
10		Economic sociology and Ortiz's Counterpoint by Enrique S. Pumar		127
11		Transcultural anthropology in the Americas (with an accent) : the uses of Fernando Ortiz by Fernando Coronil		139
12		Poetry in the presidio : toward a study of Proyecto de Codigo criminal Cubano by Alejandra Bronfman		157
13		The term Afro-Cuban : a forgotten contribution by Tomas Fernandez Robaina		171
14		Transculturation a la Ajiaco : a recipe for modernity by Patricia Catoira		181
15		Religion in the work of Fernando Ortiz by Jorge Ramirez Calzadilla		193
16		The counterpoint and literature by Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria		209
17		Of how Fernando Ortiz found an elusive maiden for an enchanted gentleman by Ricardo Vinalet		217
18		Comparative analysis of theoretical symbols by Antonio Fernandez Ferrer		229
		More...

This volume is a compelling encounter with the many personas of Fernando Ortiz--anthropologist, lawyer, politician, humanist, and, perhaps most important, Cuban visionary. Ortiz's multidisciplinary contributions are approached with respect, affection, critical consciousness, and a welcome playfulness rarely seen in academic anthologies. Whether you are already familiar with the huge corpus left by Ortiz or discovering him for the first time, let this volume be your guide to the exuberance of Ortiz's legacy, which is not only a gift to Cuba but to our globalized world, struggling with ever more pathos to figure out why culture still matters. -- Behar, Ruth This interesting collection of essays ... highlights how relevant Ortiz's writings are to understanding contemporary as well as historical trends in the Americas. -- Susan Eckstein

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