Cultural History (Latin American Studies)

Introduction

In the most inclusive sense, culture involves the creation and communication of meaning among individuals in any particular society. More recent thinking on the subject falls into two basic categories: (1) culture as practiced in daily life and (2) culture as taking shape in more institutionalized settings as persons engage in a creative process. No longer wedded to the notion of culture as consisting of only “high” expressions made manifest in traditional art categories such as literature, music, and the visual arts, today the practice of cultural history has expanded into a much wider and deeper appreciation of human interaction and expression. Food, fashion, film, performance, ritual, and sports—just to mention a few newer areas of inquiry—are now included in what is commonly termed “popular culture.” Furthermore, agriculture, cuisine, clothing, craft, festivals, sexuality, sports, and travel, among other undertakings, have either long or more recently been considered grist for the cultural history mill. Redefining Latin American cultural history has, in short, constituted a challenge to past approaches. Yet despite its promise, the so-called new cultural history is by no means a unified or wholly coherent field. Much ink has been spilled debating the relative merits of the discipline. Out of this has come, among other things, charges that cultural history is largely a US academic trend with little to no resonance in “Latin America.” This article’s aim is not to chime in on these controversies or necessarily compile an exhaustive listing of cultural history works both past and present. That undertaking would be impossible. The idea here is to provide a basic overview of the field both in its “high” and more “popular” registers, while leaving more precise assessment of particular methodological, epistemological, and political matters for another time, place, and more appropriate forum. For our purposes here, Latin America will be defined in a relatively traditional manner: principally those areas located across the present-day Spanish Americas, the Caribbean, and Brazil. The importance of pre-Columbian and colonial history notwithstanding, the purview here is largely concentrated on works dealing with the “modern” (i.e. national) period. Consideration of the Franco and Anglophone Caribbean then is, for the most part, excluded. Finally, with a few exceptions, this article does not include works that deal specifically with only one national context and/or any particular subculture within (i.e., Latino or Chicano studies) because to try to include something touching on every single region would prove nearly impossible. All cited sources reveal in some way or another Latin American cultural history as important, vibrant, fascinating, and diverse in its many manifestations past, present, and future.

General Works

Sources listed here are exemplary (although by no means exhaustive) for their scope and depth in surveying Latin American cultural history. From older approaches to cultural history (Bethell 1998) to more recent reconceptualizations in both wider survey (King 2004) to popular culture (Rowe and Schelling 1991, Beezley and Curcio-Nagy 2000) to subaltern studies (Rodríguez 2001), cultural theory (García Canclini 1995), and a specific regional focus on culture, identity, and tradition (Benítez Rojo 1996), this section offers a sampling of important works in the field.

Beezley, William H., and Linda Curcio-Nagy, eds. Latin American Popular Culture: An Introduction. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 2000.
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This sampling of essays on popular culture is a solid starting point for students of Latin American history.
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Benítez Rojo, Antonio, ed. The Repeating Island: The Caribbean and the Postmodern Perspective. 2d ed. Translated by James Maraniss. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1996.
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Benítez Rojo’s musings on Pan-Caribbean culture are richly informed and follow in the tradition of previous scholars such as C. L. R. James.
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Bethell, Leslie, ed. A Cultural History of Latin America: Literature, Music and the Visual Arts in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
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This collection provides an informative overview of cultural history’s traditional big three: literature, music, and visual arts.
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García Canclini, Nestor, ed. Hybrid Cultures: Strategies for Entering and Leaving Modernity. Translated by Christopher L. Chiappari and Silvia L. López. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1995.
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Pioneering discussion of society that argues for the acknowledgment of mixed cultures increasingly based in urban settings as well as political resistance engendered in popular culture.
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King, John, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Modern Latin American Culture. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
DOI: 10.1017/CCOL0521631513Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
One of the most up-to-date, concise, and comprehensive treatments of Latin American cultural history. Essays include discussions of modern Spanish American and Brazilian literature and poetry, music, theater, film, art, and architecture. A specific chapter on popular culture as well as a section on “Hispanic USA” added to an opening piece on pre-Columbian and colonial culture nicely rounds out the survey.
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Rodríguez, Iliana, ed. The Latin American Subaltern Studies Reader. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2001.
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This volume provides a sampling of subaltern studies with an important discussion connecting Latin America to other world regions.
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Rowe, William, and Vivian Schelling, eds. Memory and Modernity: Popular Culture in Latin America. London: Verso, 1991.
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Rowe and Schelling provide a synthetic overview of Latin American popular culture from colonial to contemporary eras. Their defining of modernity in the Latin American context is one that appreciates how tradition is incorporated rather than excluded. Fruitful analysis of the relation between folklore and mass culture lies at the heart of their discussion.
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Architecture

The history of architecture in Latin America stands as a foundation for cultural history more generally. Beginning here with early work influenced by Islamic practices (Moffitt 2004) and extending through the colonial period (Bayón and Marx 1989, and Donahue-Wallace 2008) and then through the 20th century (Fraser 2000, Cavalcanti 2003, Brillembourg 2004), built environments across the region reveal much about the consciousness and character of Latin American society in precise time and space. Some of these works also include discussion of painting and sculpture.

Bayón, Damián, and Murillo Marx, eds. History of South American Colonial Art and Architecture: Spanish South America and Brazil. New York: Rizzoli, 1989.
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This comprehensive volume details with extensive text and illustration South American art (painting and sculpture) and architecture. Excellent reference work.
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Brillembourg, Carlos, ed. Latin American Architecture, 1929–1960: Contemporary Reflections. New York: Monacelli, 2004.
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This concise volume coming out of a 2002 conference at the New School in New York is handsomely illustrated and includes chapters on the influence of Le Corbusier on Brazilian architects as well as brief discussions of US–Latin American exchanges during the Good Neighbor Era, Mexican modernity, and Caribbean architecture. Informative though unfortunately brief at times.
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Cavalcanti, Lauro, ed. When Brazil Was Modern: A Guide to Architecture, 1928–1960. Translated by Jon M. Tolman. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2003.
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A comprehensive and well-illustrated guide to modern Brazilian architecture.
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Donahue-Wallace, Kelly, ed. Art and Architecture of Viceregal Latin America, 1521–1821. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2008.
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In this compact, reader-friendly survey, Donahue-Wallace offers readers a well-informed discussion of architecture, painting, sculpture, and art—both religious and secular—in colonial Latin America. Affordable and ideal for general readers and as a reference work, but unfortunately not richly illustrated.
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Fraser, Valerie, ed. Building the New World: Studies in the Modern Architecture of Latin America, 1930–1960. London and New York: Verso, 2000.
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This critical study of 20th-century modern architecture focuses on Mexico, Venezuela, and Brazil. Public works, popular housing, city planning, and other related topics are discussed as a way to argue for the importance of Latin American architecture.
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Moffitt, John F., ed. The Islamic Design Module in Latin America: Proportionality and the Techniques of Neo-Mudéjar Architecture. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2004.
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Detailed study of neo-mudéjar (or neo-Islamic) architectural design as practiced in southern Spain and Latin America. The façade of the San Francisco Javier Church in Tepotzotlán, Mexico, is a key example of proportionate ratios (referred to as the “Pythagorean triangle”) being used. Moffitt utilizes computer graphics to analyze both original Islamic construction as well as subsequent adaptation in the New World.
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Art

Along with architecture, visual art in Latin America has enjoyed a long and rich history that combines American, European, and African traditions. From encyclopedia (Turner 2000) to modern art and photography (Poole 1997, Mraz 2009, Schwartz and Tierney-Tello 2006, Barnitz 2001, Frank 2004) as well as art and politics (Craven 2002), craft (Bartra 2003), and fashion (Root 2005), the sources in this section constitute only a small sampling of works related to visual art and its many applications.

Barnitz, Jacqueline, ed. Twentieth-Century Art of Latin America. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001.
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This richly illustrated volume presents a solid overview of 20th-century art with a well-informed slant toward the more innovative and socially conscious. Contains helpful annotations in the reference material.
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Bartra, Eli, ed. Crafting Gender: Women and Folk Art in Latin America and the Caribbean. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2003.
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This pioneering volume includes provocative essays on folk art, identity, culture, and gender.
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Craven, David, ed. Art and Revolution in Latin America, 1910–1990. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002.
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Richly illustrated discussion of visual arts in Mexico, Cuba, and Nicaragua in revolution. Craven offers a detailed art-historical analysis that includes mention of many key images and concepts. Reproduction of woodcuts, paintings, photographs, sculpture, posters, and murals, as well as interviews on the social significance of art in revolutionary society, all distinguish this volume.
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Frank, Patrick, ed. Readings in Latin American Modern Art. New Haven, CT, and London: Yale University Press, 2004.
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Important 20th-century movements and trends in Latin American art are represented here in a robust collection of documents and concise, highly readable essays.
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Mraz, John, ed. Looking for Mexico: Modern Visual Culture and National Identity. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2009.
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Mraz’s discussion of visual culture stretches from mid-19th postcards to photography and cinema in the 20th century. This is a critical interpretation of Mexican politics and society that deconstructs myth-making and official interpretations of the Mexican Revolution, among other important undertakings.
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Poole, Deborah, ed. Vision, Race, and Modernity: A Visual Economy of the Andean Image World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997.
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Fascinating visual cultural treatment of Andean history from the colonial era to early 20th century. A pioneering study detailing constructions of race and social power through the discourse of Andean visual economies.
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Root, Regina A., ed. The Latin American Fashion Reader. Oxford and New York: Berg, 2005.
DOI: 10.2752/9781847881052Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Exciting collection of essays spanning from the colonial to contemporary eras and from the Southern Cone to the Caribbean to North America. Contributors discuss various international influences in Latin American fashion as well as Latin American exports. Highly readable and provocative at times.
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Schwartz, Marcy E., and Mary Beth Tierney-Tello, eds. Photography and Writing in Latin America: Double Exposures. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2006.
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This edited volume includes critical essays and interviews on a number of Latin American topics, with a particular strength in Mexican culture. Two essays on Chile and a superb piece on Susan Mieselas’s photography in revolutionary Nicaragua stand out.
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Turner, Jane, ed. Encyclopedia of Latin American and Caribbean Art. New York and London: Grove, 2000.
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This a fairly comprehensive and relatively recent reference work.
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Cinema

Since its inception around the turn of the 20th century, cinema has become a captivating and important popular art. Various discussions of Latin American cinema detail its history (King 2000), artists (Burton 1986), social and cultural significance (King, et al. 1993), global impact (Shaw 2007), and more specifically the case of Brazilian cinema (Johnson and Stam 1995).

Burton, Julieanne, ed. Cinema and Social Change in Latin America: Conversations with Filmmakers. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1986.
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This valuable volume features interviews with many important figures in Latin American cinema from the 1960s to the mid-1980s. Brazil, Chile, and Cuba are particularly well represented.
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Johnson, Randall, and Robert Stam, eds. Brazilian Cinema. New York: Columbia University Press, 1995.
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This essential volume details Brazilian cinema’s history through a rich variety of short essays.
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King, John, ed. Magical Reels: A History of Cinema in Latin America. London and New York: Verso, 2000.
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This is perhaps the most comprehensive treatment in English of Latin American cinema historically, geographically, and thematically. King knowledgeably discusses nearly all aspects of cinema and its influences.
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King, John, Ana M. Lopez, and Manuel Alvarado, eds. Mediating Two Worlds: Cinematic Encounters in the Americas. London: British Film Institute, 1993.
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Included is expert analysis on critical issues in cinema history and culture by a pioneering group of scholars. Gender, the state, nationalism, imperialism, constructions of ethnicity and “race,” exile, spectatorship, myth, and other important topics are discussed in depth.
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Shaw, Deborah, ed. Contemporary Latin American Cinema: Breaking into the Global Market. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007.
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This is a fascinating collection of essays dealing with key aspects of Latin American cinema. Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, and Peru are well represented. Chapters here are concise, well-informed, and suitable for general readership.
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Cuisine

Analysis of food and drink richly engenders an essential component of Latin American culture. From North America (Janer 2008) to Mexico (Pilcher 1998) to works dealing with food worldwide (Pilcher 2005, Katz and Weaver 2002), cuisine is no longer an accessory to culture but is culture itself.

Janer, Zilkia, ed. Latino Food Culture. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2008.
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Janer’s work is a basic primer covering a range of topics on Latin American food and food cultures in the United States. Includes a glossary of terms and a few handy recipes.
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Katz, Solomon H., and William Woys Weaver, eds. The Encyclopedia of Food and Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
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This multivolume work is one of a handful of hefty reference works on food and history.
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Pilcher, Jeffrey, ed. ¡Que vivan los tamales!: Food and the Making of National Identity. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1998.
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Pilcher’s discussion of Mexican cuisine successfully integrates food culture into the larger cauldron of Mexican history. A pioneering work.
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Pilcher, Jeffrey, ed. Food in World Culture. London: Routledge, 2005.
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A compact work that considers key aspects of food, culture, and history in Latin America, China, Italy, and elsewhere.
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Literature

As a more traditional component of Latin American cultural history, literature today is anything but traditional as it represents a multitude of new voices that continue to explore new approaches and perspectives. Sources listed here constitute some of the top reference and survey works (González Echeverría and Pupo-Walker 1996, Valdés and Kadir 2004, Castro-Klaren 2008, Franco 1969, Martin 1989). Critical analysis on travel writing (Pratt 1992) along with a historical treatment of post-1945 Latin American literature (Franco 2002, Williams 1995) as well as a volume dedicated to poetry round out the sample (Gonzalez and Treece 1992).

Castro-Klaren, Sara, ed. Companion to Latin American Literature and Culture. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2008.
DOI: 10.1002/9780470696446Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
This fabulous collection of essays ranges from colonial to contemporary times and includes an impressive variety of topics. From indigenous cultures to the Baroque to modernism, testimonio, and beyond, this is a rich cultural resource that significantly factors in society, identity, philosophy, and politics.
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González Echevarría, Roberto, and Enrique Pupo-Walker, eds. The Cambridge History of Latin American Literature. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
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This three-volume set includes a wide-ranging collection of essays. Volume 1 is titled “Discovery to Modernism,” Volume 2 deals with the 20th century, and Volume 3 is dedicated to Brazilian literature. Very comprehensive and well-informed.
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Franco, Jean, ed. An Introduction to Spanish-American Literature. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1969.
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In this still quite durable text, Franco surveys a wide swath of Latin American literary history from the Spanish Conquest to the mid-1960s. Major genres, trends, influences, and literary movements are covered.
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Franco, Jean, ed. The Decline and Fall of the Lettered City: Latin America in the Cold War. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002.
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In this fascinating study, Franco discusses a host of important postwar Latin American literature through the historical lens of the Cold War (and “Second Cold War” as it played out in Central America and the Southern Cone in the 1970s and 1980s).
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Gonzalez, Mike, and David Treece, eds. The Gathering of Voices: The Twentieth-Century Poetry of Latin America. London: Verso, 1992.
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Organized chronologically as well as by region, this excellent treatment of 20th-century poetry brings major themes, controversies, and content into focus. Good, solid coverage of Brazil and the Caribbean as well as the Spanish American mainland.
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Martin, Gerald, ed. Journeys through the Labyrinth: Latin American Fiction in the Twentieth Century. London: Verso, 1989.
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Martin’s discussion here provides an enriching look at social realism, “magical realism,” and the boom era as well as more contemporary trends.
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Pratt, Mary Louise, ed. Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation. London and New York: Routledge, 1992.
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Now a cultural studies classic, Pratt’s brilliant discussion of travel writing closely considers the makings of European imperialism in the Americas from the early colonial period. Includes her key term “contact zones,” signifying spaces of cross-cultural encounter, negotiation, and conflict.
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Valdés, Mario J., and Djelal Kadir, eds. Literary Cultures of Latin America: A Comparative History. 3 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
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The first volume of this set is titled “Parameters of Literary Culture” and includes essays on linguistic diversity, literary production, access, and participation. Volume 2 highlights the perspective of marginalized peoples, whether by class, ethnicity, sexual preference, or gender. Volume 3 is packed with important topics ranging from political, scientific, and religious discourses to orality, to theater and popular culture, to cinema.
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Williams, Raymond Leslie, ed. The Postmodern Novel in Latin America: Politics, Culture and the Crisis of Truth. New York: St. Martin’s, 1995.
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Williams briefly discusses postmodern works by region: Mexican, Caribbean, Andean, and Southern Cone. Consideration is also given to feminist as well as gay and lesbian writings.
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Music and Media

Music is yet another central element of Latin America culture that includes American, European, and African traditions—in this case, combining to create a unique variety of sounds. Works included here represent only a small sampling of the scholarship and range from reference (Olsen and Sheehy 2000) to synthetic overview (Béhague 1979) to critical essays (Clark 2002; Pacini Hernandez, et al. 2004; Waxer 2002). Works focusing on the Caribbean (Manuel, et al. 1995), Latin music in the United States (Roberts 1979), salsa (Rondón 2008), and Brazil (Perrone and Dunn 2001) provide more specialized discussions.

Béhague, Gerard, ed. Music in Latin America: An Introduction. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1979.
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Survey of Latin American music from the colonial era to the mid-20th century and beyond. Major trends, works, and composers are contextualized in terms of their historical and cultural environments. Several musical examples are included.
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Clark, Walter Aaron, ed. From Tejano to Tango: Latin American Popular Music. New York: Routledge, 2002.
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Critical essays by leading musicologists on politics, identity, media, and globalization in a number of popular Latin music genres.
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Manuel, Peter, Kenneth Bilby, and Michael Largey. Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1995.
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This work ably surveys Caribbean music largely by way of the different islands and genres. The authors also include discussion of key regional themes and a glossary of musical terms.
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Olsen, Dale A., and Daniel E. Sheehy, eds. The Garland Handbook of Latin American Music. New York and London: Garland, 2000.
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As it sounds, this is a general reference work aimed at providing readers with basic information on general aspects of Latin American music as well as overviews of specific national cultures across Latin America.
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Pacini Hernandez, Deborah, Héctor Fernández-L’Hoeste, and Eric Zolov, eds. Rockin’ Las Américas: The Global Politics of Rock in Latin/o America. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2004.
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Fascinating treatment of rock- and pop-related music from Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, and Brazil to Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the United States. Emphasis on political economy, identity, gender, and transnationalism.
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Perrone, Charles, and Christopher Dunn, eds. Brazilian Popular Music and Globalization. Gainsville: University of Florida Press, 2001.
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This important collection contains a rich variety of commentary on Brazilian music as it has become increasingly known throughout the world.
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Roberts, John Storm, ed. The Latin Tinge: The Impact of Latin American Music on the United States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979.
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John Storm Robert’s history of Latin American music in the United States from the mid-19th century through the 1970s remains an essential reference for anyone interested in Latin music in general. Also contains an excellent glossary of musical terms and discography.
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Rondón, César Miguel, ed. The Book of Salsa: A Chronicle of Urban Music from the Caribbean to New York City. Translated by Frances Aparicio with Jackie White. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2008.
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Rondón’s history of salsa music is a triumph of hemispheric studies and rightly situates the music in the larger Caribbean context from which it developed.
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Waxer, Lise, ed. Situating Salsa: Global Markets and Local Meaning in Latin American Popular Music. London: Routledge, 2002.
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This volume provides a variety of perspectives on salsa music from a host of international scholars. Chapters range from treatments of individual artists and national and local scenes, to gender and other key factors shaping the music.
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Religion, Public Celebration, and Dance

Religion and popular festivals are central to the history of Latin American culture, from Pre-Columbian to contemporary times. How faith, spiritual consciousness, identity, and power influence society is perhaps the most important of all concerns about culture. These matters, however, are difficult to fathom. In addition to some richly textured local and regional studies of the colonial period, documentary collections (Penyak and Petry 2006) as well as a smattering of more local studies (Beezley 1987; Beezley, et al. 1994; Mendoza 2000; Harris 2003; Curcio-Nagy 2004; Matory 2005; Chasteen 2004) help lead the way.

Beezley, William H., ed. Judas at the Jockey Club and Other Episodes of Porfirian Mexico. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1987.
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This important little work still stands as a paradigm shifter in Latin American history because of its innovative treatment of material culture, sports, and popular celebration.
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Beezley, William H., Cheryl Martin, and William French, eds. Rituals of Rule, Rituals of Resistance: Public Celebrations and Popular Culture in Mexico. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1994.
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This pioneering work includes a number of essays analyzing the character and politics of public celebrations in Mexico.
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Chasteen, John Charles, ed. National Rhythms, African Roots: The Deep History of Latin American Popular Dance. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2004.
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Chasteen’s expansive treatment of dance in Latin America successfully combines culture and social history. Highly accessible and well informed.
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Curcio-Nagy, Linda A., ed. The Great Festivals of Colonial Mexico City. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2004.
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Curcio-Nagy’s consideration of colonial festivals provides an informative and highly readable survey of public celebration in Mexico.
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Harris, Max, ed. Carnival and Other Christian Festivals Folk Theology and Folk Performance. Austin: University of Texas, 2003.
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Demonstrating a wide participant-observational range, Harris provides readers with an illuminating look at public celebrations in Spain and Latin America.
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Matory, Lorand, ed. Black Atlantic Religion: Tradition, Transnationalism and Matriarchy in the Afro-Brazilian Candomble. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005.
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This fascinating study considers the diasporic character of Afro-Brazilian religion on both sides of the Atlantic.
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Mendoza, Zoila S., ed. Shaping Society through Dance: Mestizo Ritual Performance in the Peruvian Andes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
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This fascinating study details critical aspects of mestizo society and consciousness through public performance and dance.
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Penyak, Lee M., and Walter J. Petry, ed. Religion in Latin America: A Documentary History. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2006.
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This is a rich, well-organized collection of documents pertaining to aspects of indigenous as well as transplanted African, Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish religious practices in Latin America. Topics include “conversion,” the Inquisition, slavery, education, liberation theology, and social issues as related to issues of faith.
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Sport, Leisure, and Tourism

Leisure studies, including sports and other pastimes, have increasingly been shown to reveal much about culture, society, and change over time. Edited collections (Arbena and LaFrance 2002, Mangan and DaCosta 2002), anthropological endeavors (Levi 2008), and tourism studies (Berger and Wood 2010, Babb 2011) represent just a few of what is a growing scholarship.

Arbena, Joseph L., and David G. LaFrance, eds. Sport in Latin America and the Caribbean. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 2002.
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Reader-friendly treatments of soccer, baseball, equestrian traditions, and women’s volleyball. Complementary essays on turn-of-the-20th-century Nicaragua, the Mexico City 1968 Summer Olympics, sports in Castro’s Cuba as well as Peruvian female athletes.
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Babb, Florence, ed. The Tourism Encounter: Fashioning Latin American Nations and Histories. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2011.
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Babb’s critical analysis of tourism in Cuba, Nicaragua, Peru, and Mexico insightfully incorporates history, politics, gender, class, ethnicity, sex, and economics.
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Berger, Dina, and Andrew Grant Wood, eds. Holiday in Mexico: Critical Reflections on Tourism and Tourist Encounters. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2010.
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Ranging from the US-Mexico War to the contemporary period, essays collected here engage the politics and culture of modern-day tourism.
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Levi, Heather, ed. The World of Lucha Libre: Secrets, Revelations, and Mexican National Identity. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2008.
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Levi’s participant observation and eye for the spectacular shine are evident in this wonderful study of Mexican wrestling. Popular culture at its best!
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Mangan, J. A., and Lamartine Pereira DaCosta, eds. Sport in Latin American Society: Past and Present. London and Portland, OR: Frank Cass, 2002.
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Thoughtful writings on sports in Brazil, Argentina, Cuba, and the Americas in general as related to history, politics, and society.
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