Piruetas Transnacionales: Preserving Identity through Eating, Drinking, Learning and Music Making

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

LASA’s 50th Anniversary is an occasion to assess its impact on the field of cultural studies. This panel focuses on the movements and transformations of cultural expressions as manifested in cuisine, music-making, and reading materials for youth. The concept of “piruetas” illustrates the shapes and progressions of how Latin American and Caribbean cultures have reinvented traditions in these areas, and the emergence of new enclaves utilizing established cultural norms. This panel reflects on transnationalism and examines ways in which the Puerto Rican cuatro, the Caribbean diet, and Latin American textbooks are preserved in new localities, crossing national and regional boundaries.

Sub Track

• Transnationalism and Globalization

Chair

• Noraliz Ruiz

Individual Presentations

• Latin American Dick and Jane: Race and National Identity in Puerto Rican Textbooks - Marilisa Jimenez

• Cuatristas in the U.S.: Musical Creativities in New Localities - Noraliz Ruiz

• Food in movement: Cuban and Puerto Rican migrations through cuisine representation - Melissa Fuster, CUNY Brooklyn College

• Iron tears: Clandestine Rum Production among Puerto Ricans in New York City - JOSE MANUEL GONZALEZ