Spaces of Madness examines the role of the insane asylum in Argentine prose works published between 1889 and 2011. From a place of existential exile at the turn of the twentieth century to a symbolic representation of Argentine society during and immediately subsequent to the Dirty War, the figure of the asylum in Argentine literature has evolved along with the institution itself. The authors studied in Spaces of Madness include Manuel T. Podesta, Roberto Arlt, Leopoldo Marechal, Julio Cortazar, Adolfo Bioy Casares, Juan Jose Saer, Abelardo Castillo, Ricardo Piglia, and Luisa Valenzuela.

Spaces of Madness examines the role of madness and irrationality in the works of four key Argentine novelists: Julio Cortazar, Ricardo Piglia, Juan Jose Saer, and Luisa Valenzuela. Situating these works within the deconstructivist framework provided by Michel Foucault's History of Madness, Spaces of Madness demonstrates the ways in which the perceived superiority of reason to madness is called into question in light of the challenges posed by the atrocities of Argentina's Dirty War (1976-83). The works of the authors studied in Spaces of Madness reflect at times a wave of glorification of the irrational as a consequence of a growing distrust of rationalism, and often use the concept of madness as a metaphorical representation of an artistic type of irrationality as a means of resistance against supposedly rational forces of violence and repression. The works of the four authors studied here seek to dislodge reason, sanity and rationality from their pedestal by proposing madness as a metaphor for the often artistic efforts of resistance against the violent and repressive consequences of purported rationality taken to irrational extremes.

From the gospel music of slavery in the antebellum South to anti-apartheid freedom songs in South Africa, this two-volume work documents how music has fueled resistance and revolutionary movements in the United States and worldwide. Political resistance movements and the creation of music-two seemingly unrelated phenomenon-often result from the seed of powerful emotions, opinions, or experiences. This two-volume set presents essays that explore the connections between diverse musical forms and political activism across the globe, revealing fascinating similarities regarding the interrelationship between music and political resistance in widely different geographic or cultural circumstances. The breadth of specific examples covered in Sounds of Resistance: The Role of Music in Multicultural Activism highlights strong similarities between diverse situations-for example, protest against the Communist government in Poland and drug discourse in hip hop music in the United States-and demonstrates how music has repeatedly played a vital role in energizing or expanding various political movements. By exploring activism and how music relates to specific movements through an interdisciplinary lens, the authors document how music often enables powerless members of oppressed groups to communicate or voice their concerns.

Documents counterimperialism in Chilean music since the 1960s Gringos Get Rich: Anti-Americanism in Chilean Music examines anti-Americanism in Latin America as manifested in Chilean music in recent history. From a folk-based movement in the 1960s and early 1970s to underground punk rock groups during the Pinochet regime, to socially conscious hip-hop artists of postdictatorship Chile, Chilean music has followed several left-leaning transnational musical trends to grapple with Chile’s fluctuating relationship with the United States. Eunice Rojas’s innovative analysis introduces US readers to a wide swath of Chilean musicians and their powerful protest songs and provides a representative and long view of the negative influences of the United States in Latin America. Much of the criticism of the United States in Chile’s music centers on the perception of the United States as a heavy-handed source of capitalist imperialism that is exploitative of and threatening to Chile’s poor and working-class public and to Chilean cultural independence and integrity. Rojas incorporates Antonio Gramsci’s theories about the difficulties of struggles for cultural power within elitist capitalist systems to explore anti-Americanism and anti-capitalist music. Ultimately, Rojas shows how the music from various genres, time periods, and political systems attempts to act as a counterhegemonic alternative to Chile’s political, cultural, and economic status quo. Rojas’s insight is timely as a political trend toward the right continues in the Americas. There is also increased interest in and acceptance of popular song lyrics as literary texts. The book will appeal to Latin Americanists, ethnomusicologists, scholars of popular culture and international relations, students, and general readers.

Documents counterimperialism in Chilean music since the 1960s Gringos Get Rich: Anti-Americanism in Chilean Music examines anti-Americanism in Latin America as manifested in Chilean music in recent history. From a folk-based movement in the 1960s and early 1970s to underground punk rock groups during the Pinochet regime, to socially conscious hip-hop artists of postdictatorship Chile, Chilean music has followed several left-leaning transnational musical trends to grapple with Chile’s fluctuating relationship with the United States. Eunice Rojas’s innovative analysis introduces US readers to a wide swath of Chilean musicians and their powerful protest songs and provides a representative and long view of the negative influences of the United States in Latin America. Much of the criticism of the United States in Chile’s music centers on the perception of the United States as a heavy-handed source of capitalist imperialism that is exploitative of and threatening to Chile’s poor and working-class public and to Chilean cultural independence and integrity. Rojas incorporates Antonio Gramsci’s theories about the difficulties of struggles for cultural power within elitist capitalist systems to explore anti-Americanism and anti-capitalist music. Ultimately, Rojas shows how the music from various genres, time periods, and political systems attempts to act as a counterhegemonic alternative to Chile’s political, cultural, and economic status quo. Rojas’s insight is timely as a political trend toward the right continues in the Americas. There is also increased interest in and acceptance of popular song lyrics as literary texts. The book will appeal to Latin Americanists, ethnomusicologists, scholars of popular culture and international relations, students, and general readers.