Cuban Counterpoints: The Legacy of Fernando Ortiz

by Carmen Almod var Mu oz, Alejandra Bronfman, Patricia Catoira, Fernando Coronil, Mar a Del Rosario D az Rodr guez

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739109687
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	12/23/2004
Series:	Bildner Western Hemisphere Studies
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	316
Product dimensions:	5.94(w) x 8.94(h) x 0.72(d)

About the Author

Mauricio A. Font is Professor of Sociology at Queens College and the Graduate Center. He also serves as Director of the Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies. Alfonso W. Quiroz is Professor of History at Baruch College.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Introduction
Part 2 Life and Education
Chapter 3 Fernando Ortiz, My Father
Chapter 4 Spanish Intellectuals and Fernando Ortiz (1900-1941)
Chapter 5 It All Started in Madrid
Chapter 6 Ethnography at the University of Havana
Part 7 Interpreting Cuban History
Chapter 8 Transculturation and Nationalism
Chapter 9 The Early Republic: Politics, Civic Culture, and Sovereignty
Chapter 10 The Political Ideas of Fernando Ortiz (1906-1933)
Chapter 11 Economic Historian and Editor of Cuban Classics
Chapter 12 Tobacco in the Contrapunteo: Ortiz and the Havana Cigar
Part 13 Social Sciences and the Law
Chapter 14 Economic Sociology and Ortiz's Counterpoint
Chapter 15 Transcultural Anthropology in the Américas (with an Accent): The Uses of Fernando Ortiz
Chapter 16 Poetry in the Presidio: Towards a Study of Proyecto de Código Criminal Cubano
Part 17 Racial Diversity, Religion, and National Identity
Chapter 18 The Term Afro-Cuban: A Forgotten Contribution
Chapter 19 Transculturation a la Ajiaco: A Recipe for Modernity
Chapter 20 Religion in the Work of Fernando Ortiz
Part 21 Literature and Music
Chapter 22 The Counterpoint and Literature
Chapter 23 Of How Fernando Ortiz Foudn and Elusive Maiden for an Enchanted Gentleman
Chapter 24 Comparative Analysis of Theoretical Symbols
Chapter 25 Stirring the Ajiaco: Changüí, Son, and the Haitian Connection
Chapter 26 Fernando Ortiz, Founder

Editorial Reviews

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

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.

Ruth Behar