Rock the Nation: Latin/o Identities and the Latin Rock Diaspora

Description

Rock the Nation analyzes Latino/a identity through rock 'n' roll music and its deep Latin/o history. By linking rock music to Latinos and to music from Latin America, the author argues that Latin/o music, people, and culture have been central to the development of rock music as a major popular music form, in spite of North American racial logic that marginalizes Latino/as as outsiders, foreigners, and always exotic. According to the author, the Latin/o Rock Diaspora illuminates complex identity issues and interesting paradoxes with regard to identity politics, such as nationalism. Latino/as use rock music for assimilation to mainstream North American culture, while in Latin America, rock music in Spanish is used to resist English and the hegemony of U.S. culture. Meanwhile, singing in English and adopting U.S. popular culture allows youth to resist the hegemonic nationalisms of their own countries. Thus, throughout the Americas, Latino/as utilize rock music for assimilation to mainstream national culture(s), for resistance to the hegemony of dominant culture(s), and for mediating the negotiation of Latino/a identities.

Roberto Avant-Mier is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, University of Texas, El Paso. His research focuses on the discursive construction of Latino/a identity(ies) as well as cultural issues in popular music and other media. In addition to research on Latino/as and rock music (in various sub-genres), other forthcoming research focuses on rap music and world music.

Avant-Mier challenges binaries that present Latina/os as outsiders by shedding light on the 'forgotten' or 'ignored' place that Latina/os have had in making and influencing U.S. popular culture. His work is thorough and impressive. --Bernadette Calafell, author of Latina/o Communication Studies: Theorizing Performance Author was interviewed on the New Books In Popular Music blog http://newbooksinpopmusic.com/2011/11/15/roberto-avant-mier-rock-the-nation-latino-identites-and-the-latin-rock-diaspora-continuum-2010/ "[Rock the Nation] sheds a new light on rock music's relevance to the Latino/Hispanic community and the stereotypes that surround both.The book takes the reader back through the ages of rock music while highlighting examples of Latino/Hispanic influence and even origins. Through his critical analysis of the rock music genre, Avant-Mier exposes the association of Latinos as outsiders while showing evidence of the Latino/Hispanic push both for and against American assimilation."-Dorchester Reporter 'For Roberto Avant-Mier, Latinos can rightfully claim to have belonged to the centre of rock's production from the beginning. By driving home the point that rock 'n' roll was born in cultural hybridity, Avant-Mier successfully and irrevocably overturns the 'persistent and prevalent Black/White dichotomy' that has long been the epistemological axis around which popular music research has revolved. In doing so, he aims to 'reclaim rock music and its history for Latino/as' and thus 'raise the question of how Latino/as fit with regard to our narratives of ''nation'' and national culture.' The end result is a fascinating, at times encyclopaedic history of Latino and Latin American contributions to rock's global trajectory, and an ambitious conceptual mapping for future research.'-Bulletin of Latin American Research