El Monte's New Itineraries
Afrodiasporic Spirituality in the Contemporary Caribbean
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Rutgers University Press
Publishing:30th Apr '26
£96.00
This title is due to be published on 30th April, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
This hardback is available in another edition too:
- Paperback£31.00(9781978846258)
El Monte's New Itineraries is the first book fully devoted to the study of Cuban author and ethnographer Lydia Cabrera's El Monte (1954), one of the most influential books in Caribbean cultural history. Highly referenced, if understudied, El Monte is a comprehensive work that intertwines ethnobotany, popular orality, and Afro-Cuban traditions. Its pages have enjoyed a transnational influence, enriching domains such as ethnography, politics, theater, and even science fiction literature in the Caribbean, and the knowledge contained in it lies at the heart of Afrodiasporic spirituality and ethnomedicinal practices across Hispanic Caribbean cultures and beyond.
"Guide, manual, labyrinth, intricate thicket of reality and fantasy, a work of high literary modernism, scholarly treatise, or an example of the 'marvelous real'? Lydia Cabrera's El Monte is a magical, poetic, and idiosyncratic rendering of Afro-Cuban religious beliefs and practices. We are fortunate to have a collection of essays that approach this baffling and charming book from different perspectives and disciplines: anthropology, ethnobotany, the visual arts, literature, history, queerness, and ecology. These essays reveal that El Monte is more than a text, it is a journey filled with new beginnings." - Alan West-Durán, author of Afro-Cuban Religions and the Arts: A Dog Has Four Legs But Takes One Path
"Vibrant, daring, and deeply grounded, this book reimagines Lydia Cabrera's work for our time. Moving across literature, ethnography, and visual culture, the essays uncover how Cabrera's El Monte continues to breathe through the Caribbean's art, spirituality, and politics. This collection proves that Cabrera's forest of symbols is still very much alive and more relevant than ever." - Mabel Cuesta, associate professor, University of Houston
ISBN: 9781978846265
Dimensions: 235mm x 156mm x 20mm
Weight: 454g
216 pages