This detailed analysis of the poetry associated with the Afrocubanismo movement of the late 1920s infuses new life into the study of these remarkable works. Focusing on the representations of carnival and its comparsas (carnival bands and music), this book offers thought-provoking new readings of poems by seminal Cuban poets, demonstrating how their writings on and about these traditions both contributed to and detracted from the development of a recognizable Afro-Cuban identity. It is the first book to examine, from a literary perspective, the long-running debate between the proponents of Afr ... More

This detailed analysis of the poetry associated with the Afrocubanismo movement of the late 1920s infuses new life into the study of these remarkable works. Focusing on the representations of carnival and its comparsas (carnival bands and music), this book offers thought-provoking new readings of poems by seminal Cuban poets, demonstrating how their writings on and about these traditions both contributed to and detracted from the development of a recognizable Afro-Cuban identity. It is the first book to examine, from a literary perspective, the long-running debate between the proponents of Afro-Cuban cultural manifestations and the predominantly white Cuban intelligentsia, who viewed these traditions as “backward” and counter to the interests of the young Republic. Including analyses of the work of Felipe Pichardo Moya, Alejo Carpentier, Nicolás Guillén, Emilio Ballagas, José Zacarías Tallet, Felix B. Caignet, Marcelino Arozarena, and Alfonso Camín, this volume offers a fresh look at the canon of Afrocubanismo and gives surprising insights into Cuban culture during the early years of the Republic.