View the Table of Contents.
Read the Introduction.

Awarded Honorable Mention for the 2005 MLA Prize in United States Latina and Latino and Chicana and Chicano Literary and Cultural Studies.

a"Loca Motion" is a work of intelligent exuberance. Michelle Habell-PallAn has the eyes, ears, and heart to read popular performance, culture, and music as the new archives of Chicana and Latina transnational and translocal histories.a
--Lisa Lowe, UC San Diego

aForget about Ricky Martin and Shakira, here come El Vez and Marga Gomez. Habell-PallAn has produced a highly original study of Chicano/Latino popular culture and of its local, national and international dimensions by taking us into the world of alternative and experimental Chicano/Latino art.a
--Arlene Davila, author of "Barrio Dreams"

"Offers insight into the dynamics of race, class, gender and sexuality."--"Hispanic LInk Weekly Report"

In the summer of 1995, El Vez, the aMexican Elvis, a along with his backup singers and band, The Lovely Elvettes and the Memphis Mariachis, served as master of ceremony for a ground-breaking show, aDiva L.A.: A Salute to L.A.as Latinas in the Tanda Style.a The performances were remarkable not only for the talent displayed, but for their blend of linguistic, musical, and cultural traditions.

In Loca Motion, Michelle Habell-PallAn argues that performances like Diva L.A. play a vital role in shaping and understanding contemporary transnational social dynamics. Chicano/a and Latino/a popular culture, including spoken word, performance art, comedy, theater, and punk music aesthetics, is central to developing cultural forms and identities that reach across and beyond the Americas, from Mexico City to Vancouver to Berlin. Drawing on the lives and work of a diverse group of artists, Habell-PallAn explores new perspectives that defy both traditional forms of Latino cultural nationalism and the expectations of U.S. culture. The result is a sophisticated rethinking of identity politics and an invaluable lens from which to view the complex dynamics of race, class, gender, and sexuality.

Cover artwork by Diane Gamboa. Credit-Click here

"With stunning, eloquent, and insightful essays Latino/a Popular Culture offers the best guide to the cultural production of the largest group of people of color in the United States. The essays broaden both our knowledge of Latino/a cultural production and challenge the traditional paradigms of cultural and ethnic studies doing so through accessible, historically informed approaches."
--Mary Pat Brady, Cornell University

""Latino/a Popular Culture" greatly contributes to the genres of both cultural studies and Latino studies. The editors exhort undergraduate and graduate students to continue looking at Latino/a popular coluture as "as site of invention, critique and pleasure" (p.16) since much work still needs to be done in this area."
--"Harvard Educational Review"

"The book provides an insight into the current struggles that Latinos who live in the norhern hemisphere face."
--"MELUS"

Latinos have become the largest ethnic minority group in the United States. While the presence of Latinos and Latinas in mainstream news and in popular culture in the United States buttresses the much-heralded Latin Explosion, the images themselves are often contradictory.

In Latino/a Popular Culture, Habell-Pallan and Romero have brought together scholars from the humanities and social sciences to analyze representations of Latinidad in a diversity of genres - media, culture, music, film, theatre, art, and sports - that are emerging across the nation in relation to Chicanas, Chicanos, mestizos, Puerto Ricans, Caribbeans, Central Americans and South Americans, and Latinos in Canada.

Contributors include Adrian Burgos, Jr., LuzCalvo, Arlene Davila, Melissa A. Fitch, Michelle Habell-Pallan, Tanya Kateri Hernandez, Josh Kun, Frances Negron-Muntaner, William A. Nericcio, Raquel Z. Rivera, Ana Patricia RodrA-guez, Gregory Rodriguez, Mary Romero, Alberto Sandoval-Sanchez, Christopher A. Shinn, Deborah R. Vargas, and Juan Velasco.

Cover artwork "Layering the Decades" by Diane Gamboa, 2002, mixed media on paper, 11 X 8.5." Copyright 2001, Diane Gamboa. Printed with permission.

View the Table of Contents.
Read the Introduction.

Awarded Honorable Mention for the 2005 MLA Prize in United States Latina and Latino and Chicana and Chicano Literary and Cultural Studies.

a"Loca Motion" is a work of intelligent exuberance. Michelle Habell-PallAn has the eyes, ears, and heart to read popular performance, culture, and music as the new archives of Chicana and Latina transnational and translocal histories.a
--Lisa Lowe, UC San Diego

aForget about Ricky Martin and Shakira, here come El Vez and Marga Gomez. Habell-PallAn has produced a highly original study of Chicano/Latino popular culture and of its local, national and international dimensions by taking us into the world of alternative and experimental Chicano/Latino art.a
--Arlene Davila, author of "Barrio Dreams"

"Offers insight into the dynamics of race, class, gender and sexuality."--"Hispanic LInk Weekly Report"

In the summer of 1995, El Vez, the aMexican Elvis, a along with his backup singers and band, The Lovely Elvettes and the Memphis Mariachis, served as master of ceremony for a ground-breaking show, aDiva L.A.: A Salute to L.A.as Latinas in the Tanda Style.a The performances were remarkable not only for the talent displayed, but for their blend of linguistic, musical, and cultural traditions.

In Loca Motion, Michelle Habell-PallAn argues that performances like Diva L.A. play a vital role in shaping and understanding contemporary transnational social dynamics. Chicano/a and Latino/a popular culture, including spoken word, performance art, comedy, theater, and punk music aesthetics, is central to developing cultural forms and identities that reach across and beyond the Americas, from Mexico City to Vancouver to Berlin. Drawing on the lives and work of a diverse group of artists, Habell-PallAn explores new perspectives that defy both traditional forms of Latino cultural nationalism and the expectations of U.S. culture. The result is a sophisticated rethinking of identity politics and an invaluable lens from which to view the complex dynamics of race, class, gender, and sexuality.

Evoking the pleasures of music as well as food, the word sabor signifies a rich essence that makes our mouths water or makes our bodies want to move. American Sabor traces the substantial musical contributions of Latinas and Latinos in American popular music between World War II and the present in five vibrant centers of Latin@ musical production: New York, Los Angeles, San Antonio, San Francisco, and Miami. From Tito Puente's mambo dance rhythms to the Spanglish rap of Mellow Man Ace, American Sabor focuses on musical styles that have developed largely in the United States-including jazz, rhythm and blues, rock, punk, hip hop, country, Tejano, and salsa-but also shows the many ways in which Latin@ musicians and styles connect US culture to the culture of the broader Americas. With side-by-side Spanish and English text, authors Marisol Berrios-Miranda, Shannon Dudley, and Michelle Habell-Pallan challenge the white and black racial framework that structures most narratives of popular music in the United States. They present the regional histories of Latin@ communities-including Chicanos, Tejanos, and Puerto Ricans-in distinctive detail, and highlight the shared experiences of immigration/migration, racial boundary crossing, contesting gender roles, youth innovation, and articulating an American experience through music. In celebrating the musical contributions of Latinos and Latinas, American Sabor illuminates a cultural legacy that enriches us all.

Evoking the pleasures of music as well as food, the word sabor signifies a rich essence that makes our mouths water or makes our bodies want to move. American Sabor traces the substantial musical contributions of Latinas and Latinos in American popular music between World War II and the present in five vibrant centers of Latin@ musical production: New York, Los Angeles, San Antonio, San Francisco, and Miami. From Tito Puente's mambo dance rhythms to the Spanglish rap of Mellow Man Ace, American Sabor focuses on musical styles that have developed largely in the United States-including jazz, rhythm and blues, rock, punk, hip hop, country, Tejano, and salsa-but also shows the many ways in which Latin@ musicians and styles connect US culture to the culture of the broader Americas. With side-by-side Spanish and English text, authors Marisol Berrios-Miranda, Shannon Dudley, and Michelle Habell-Pallan challenge the white and black racial framework that structures most narratives of popular music in the United States. They present the regional histories of Latin@ communities-including Chicanos, Tejanos, and Puerto Ricans-in distinctive detail, and highlight the shared experiences of immigration/migration, racial boundary crossing, contesting gender roles, youth innovation, and articulating an American experience through music. In celebrating the musical contributions of Latinos and Latinas, American Sabor illuminates a cultural legacy that enriches us all.

Cover artwork by Diane Gamboa. Credit-Click here

"With stunning, eloquent, and insightful essays Latino/a Popular Culture offers the best guide to the cultural production of the largest group of people of color in the United States. The essays broaden both our knowledge of Latino/a cultural production and challenge the traditional paradigms of cultural and ethnic studies doing so through accessible, historically informed approaches."
--Mary Pat Brady, Cornell University

""Latino/a Popular Culture" greatly contributes to the genres of both cultural studies and Latino studies. The editors exhort undergraduate and graduate students to continue looking at Latino/a popular coluture as "as site of invention, critique and pleasure" (p.16) since much work still needs to be done in this area."
--"Harvard Educational Review"

"The book provides an insight into the current struggles that Latinos who live in the norhern hemisphere face."
--"MELUS"

Latinos have become the largest ethnic minority group in the United States. While the presence of Latinos and Latinas in mainstream news and in popular culture in the United States buttresses the much-heralded Latin Explosion, the images themselves are often contradictory.

In Latino/a Popular Culture, Habell-Pallan and Romero have brought together scholars from the humanities and social sciences to analyze representations of Latinidad in a diversity of genres - media, culture, music, film, theatre, art, and sports - that are emerging across the nation in relation to Chicanas, Chicanos, mestizos, Puerto Ricans, Caribbeans, Central Americans and South Americans, and Latinos in Canada.

Contributors include Adrian Burgos, Jr., LuzCalvo, Arlene Davila, Melissa A. Fitch, Michelle Habell-Pallan, Tanya Kateri Hernandez, Josh Kun, Frances Negron-Muntaner, William A. Nericcio, Raquel Z. Rivera, Ana Patricia RodrA-guez, Gregory Rodriguez, Mary Romero, Alberto Sandoval-Sanchez, Christopher A. Shinn, Deborah R. Vargas, and Juan Velasco.

Cover artwork "Layering the Decades" by Diane Gamboa, 2002, mixed media on paper, 11 X 8.5." Copyright 2001, Diane Gamboa. Printed with permission.