Rocking the Boat: Migration and Race in Contemporary Spanish Music

Silvia Bermúdez’s fascinating study reveals how Spanish popular music, produced between 1980 and 2013, was the first cultural site to engage in critical debate about ethnicity and race in relation to the immigration patterns that have been changing the social landscape of Spanish society since the late 1970s.

In Rocking the Boat, Bermúdez examines the lyrics of songs by both renowned and up and coming artists to illuminate how these new migrants challenged Spain’s notions of homogeneity, b...