Cuban Counterpoints: The Legacy of Fernando Ortiz (Bildner Western Hemisphere Studies)

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. Contents 6 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction: The Intellectual Legacy of Fernando Ortiz • Mauricio A. Font, Alfonso W. Quiroz, and Pamela Maria Smorkaloff 12 Part I: Life and Education 22 1 Fernando Ortiz, My Father • María Fernanda Ortiz Herrem 24 2 Spanish Intellectuals and Fernando Ortiz (1900—1941) • Consuelo Naranjo Orovio and Miguel Angel Puig-Samper Mulero 30 3 It All Started in Madrid • Octavio di Leo 60 4 Ethnography at the University of Havana • María del Rosario Diaz 76 Part II: Interpreting Cuban History 84 5 Transculturation and Nationalism • Rafael Rojas 86 6 The Early Republic: Politics, Civic Culture, and Sovereignty • Marifeli Pérez-Stable 94 7 The Political Ideas of Fernando Ortiz (1906—1933) • Carmen Almodóvar 110 8 Economic Historian and Editor of Cuban Classics • José Matos Arévalos 116 9 Tobacco in the Contrapunteo: Ortiz and the Havana Cigar • Jean Stubbs 126 Part III: Social Sciences and Law 146 10 Economic Sociology and Ortiz’s Counterpoint • Enrique S. Pumar 148 11 Transcultural Anthropology in the Americas (with an Accent): The Uses of Fernando Ortiz • Fernando Coronil 178 12 Poetry in the Presidio: Toward a Study of Proyecto de Código Criminal Cubano • Alejandra Bronfman 196 Part IV: Racial Diversity, Religion, and National Identity 208 13 The Term Afro-Cuban: A Forgotten Contribution • Tomas Fernández Robaina 210 14 Transculturation à la Ajiaco: A Recipe for Modernity • Patricia Catoira 220 15 Religion in the Work of Fernando Ortiz • Jorge Ramírez Calzadilla 232 Part V: Literature and Music 246 16 The Counterpoint and Literature • Roberto González Echevarría 248 17 Of How Fernando Ortiz Found an Elusive Maiden for an Enchanted Gentleman • Ricardo Viñalet 256 18 Comparative Analysis of Theoretical Symbols • Antonio Fernández Ferrer 268 19 Stirring the Ajiaco: Changüí, Son, and the Haitian Connection • Benjamin L. Lapidus 276 20 Fernando Ortiz, Founder • María Teresa Linares Savio 286 Bibliography 294 Index 314 Contributors 328