Honorable Mention, Barbara T. Christian Literary Award, Caribbean Studies Association, 2017

In the wake of the 1959 Cuban Revolution, a key state ideology developed: racism was a systemic cultural issue that ceased to exist after the Revolution, and any racism that did persist was a result of contained cases of individual prejudice perpetuated by US influence. Even after the state officially pronounced the end of racism within its borders, social inequalities tied to racism, sexism, and homophobia endured, and, during the economic liberalization of the 1990s, widespread economic disparities began to reemerge.

Cuban Underground Hip Hop focuses on a group of self-described antiracist, revolutionary youth who initiated a social movement (1996-2006) to educate and fight against these inequalities through the use of arts-based political activism intended to spur debate and enact social change. Their "revolution" was manifest in altering individual and collective consciousness by critiquing nearly all aspects of social and economic life tied to colonial legacies. Using over a decade of research and interviews with those directly involved, Tanya L. Saunders traces the history of the movement from its inception and the national and international debates that it spawned to the exodus of these activists/artists from Cuba and the creative vacuum they left behind. Shedding light on identity politics, race, sexuality, and gender in Cuba and the Americas, Cuban Underground Hip Hop is a valuable case study of a social movement that is a part of Cuba's longer historical process of decolonization.

"Saunders has amassed a fascinating archive of the Cuban Underground Hip Hop Movement from its beginnings in the late 1990s up through 2006. Her significant achievement is that she has produced a truly intersectional analysis that is attuned to the interrelationship of race, gender, class, and sexuality." -- Aisha S. Durham, Assistant Professor of Communication, University of South Florida, author of Home with Hip Hop Feminism: Performances in Communication and Culture, and coeditor of Home Girls Make Some Noise: Hip-Hop Feminism Anthology

About the Author
Tanya L. Saunders is an assistant professor in the Department of African American and African Studies at the Ohio State University.

Reviews
This study is a must for any scholar on race, feminism, social movements, music, and, of course, Cuba. * Choice *
Cuban Underground Hip Hop delivers an intimate history of hip hop in Cuba between 1996 and 2006...[It] stands out because of its focus on the intersectionality of race and gender. * New West Indian Guide *



Book Information
ISBN 9781477307700
Author Tanya L. Saunders
Format Paperback
Page Count 368
Imprint University of Texas Press
Publisher University of Texas Press
Weight(grams) 454g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 23mm