Between 1868 and 1898, three generations of Cubans fought to free Cuba from colonialist Spain. More than a century later, no other historical narrative is as beloved and ritualistically recited as the story of Cuba Libre and the citizen-soldier known as the mambi. In town festivals and cartoons, in textbooks and hymns, in the national currency and logos alike, the mambi is the foremost icon of Cuba's past and present. Scrutinizing how this figure has been aesthetically rendered in literature, historiography, cinema, and monuments, Eric Morales-Franceschini teases out the emancipatory promises that the story of Cuba Libre came to embody in the twentieth-century popular imagination.The story of Cuba Libre and the mambi is not, after all, a conventional epic. For how does one account for heroes that are neither demigods nor nobles? For tactics more sly than virtuous? Or verse more populist than eloquent? Analyzing the mambi as Afro-Cuban, woman, trickster, saboteur, and martyr, this critical exegesis shows how that heroic archetype has come to bear on issues such as racial justice, women's empowerment, populist humor, the ethics of violence, and the nationalist sublime. With an eye toward decolonial futures, The Epic of Cuba Libre illuminates the complexities and idiosyncrasies of an aesthetics of liberation.

Between 1868 and 1898, three generations of Cubans fought to free Cuba from colonialist Spain. More than a century later, no other historical narrative is as beloved and ritualistically recited as the story of Cuba Libre and the citizen-soldier known as the mambi. In town festivals and cartoons, in textbooks and hymns, in the national currency and logos alike, the mambi is the foremost icon of Cuba's past and present. Scrutinizing how this figure has been aesthetically rendered in literature, historiography, cinema, and monuments, Eric Morales-Franceschini teases out the emancipatory promises that the story of Cuba Libre came to embody in the twentieth-century popular imagination.The story of Cuba Libre and the mambi is not, after all, a conventional epic. For how does one account for heroes that are neither demigods nor nobles? For tactics more sly than virtuous? Or verse more populist than eloquent? Analyzing the mambi as Afro-Cuban, woman, trickster, saboteur, and martyr, this critical exegesis shows how that heroic archetype has come to bear on issues such as racial justice, women's empowerment, populist humor, the ethics of violence, and the nationalist sublime. With an eye toward decolonial futures, The Epic of Cuba Libre illuminates the complexities and idiosyncrasies of an aesthetics of liberation.

It is common to hear heavy metal music fans and musicians talk about the "metal community". This concept, which is widely used when referencing this musical genre, encompasses multiple complex aspects that are seldom addressed in traditional academic endeavors including shared aesthetics, musical practices, geographies, and narratives. The idea of a "metal community" recognizes that fans and musicians frequently identify as part of a collective group, larger than any particular individual. Still, when examined in detail, the idea raises more questions than answers. What criteria are used to define groups of people as part of the community? How are metal communities formed and maintained through time? How do metal communities interact with local cultures throughout the world? How will metal communities change over the lifespan of their members? Are metal communities even possible in light of the importance placed on individualism in this musical genre? These are just some of the questions that arise when the concept of "community" is used in relation to heavy metal music. And yet in the face of all these complexities, heavy metal fans continue to think of themselves as a unified collective entity. This book addresses this notion of "metal community" via the experiences of authors and fans through theoretical reflections and empirical research. Their contributions focus on how metal communities are conceptualized, created, shaped, maintained, interact with their context, and address internal tensions. The book provides scholars, and other interested in the field of metal music studies, with a state of the art reflection on how metal communities are constituted, while also addressing their limits and future challenges.