Blog Archives

Nadine T. Fernandez New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 2010 Reviewed by Erica Lorraine Williams In this insightful and well-written ethnography, Nadine Fernandez explores a central paradox: if mestizaje (racial mixing) is the “essence” of the Cuban nation, then why are …

Paloma Martinez-Cruz Tucson, AZ: The University of Arizona Press, 2012. Reviewed by E.A. Polanco Women and Knowledge in Mesoamerica: From East L.A. to Anahuac maps an ethnohistorical journey through Mesoamerican time and space in order to understand why Latinas in …

Yasmina Katsulis Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008 Reviewed by Sharla Blank Yasmina Katsulis’ book, Sex Work and the City: The Social Geography of Health and Safety in Tijuana, Mexico describes and analyzes sex work and sex workers in the …

Ana Mariella Bacigalupo Austin: University of Texas Press, 2007 Reviewed by Jennifer Hale-Gallardo Shamans of the Foye Tree: Gender, Power and Healing among Chilean Mapuche is a fascinating and well-crafted ethnography on the cultural politics of the machi, or Mapuche …

Julie D. Shayne, Rutgers University Press, 2004 Reviewed by Monica Tarducci & Miranda Gonzalez Martin, Universidad de Buenos Aires The Revolution Question deals with the complex relations between feminist and revolutionary left movements in three Latin-American countries: Cuba, Chile and …

Michael Gorkin, Marta Pineda, & Gloria Leal Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000 Reviewed by Lea Pickard, SUNY-Albany From Grandmother to Granddaughter is a multigenerational oral history of Salvadoran women’s lives. Authors Gorkin, Pineda and Leal are psychologists who conducted …

Ana-maurine Lara Washington, DC: RedBone Press, 2006 Reviewed by ShariLynn Robinson-Lynk, Wayne State University Erzulie’s Skirt is the 2006 debut novel, consisting of part fiction and part non-fiction, by Afro-Dominican born author, Ana-maurine Lara. Erzulie is the most popular and …

Tanja Christiansen, University of Texas Press, 2004 Reviewed by Jessaca Leinaweaver, graduate student in cultural anthropology, University of Michigan Tanja Christiansen’s Disobedience, Slander, Seduction, and Assault, based on her Ph.D. research and dissertation (History, Oxford), tackles themes familiar to feminist …