Essays on Transculturation and Catalan-Cuban Intellectual History, 1st ed. 2021

This book examines the cultural production of Catalan intellectuals in Cuba through a reading of texts and journeys that show the contrapuntal relationship between transcultural identities and narratives of nationhood. Both the concept of transculturation and its instrumentalization to tame conflict within nationalist projects are problematic. By uncovering and examining the contradictions between the fluid character of identities in the Cuban context of the first half of the twentieth century and nationalist discourses, within both the Catalanist community of Havana and Cuban society, this book joins wider debates about identities. 

Chapter 1: Introduction The counterpoints of transculturation.- Chapter 2: The Catalan-Cuban intellectuals of La Nova Catalunya.- Chapter 3: Josep Conangla’s Americanist Catalanism.- Chapter 4: Regino Boti’s poetics and the construction of identities in Guantanamo.- Chapter 5: A rereading of Fernando Ortiz’s counterpoints.- Chapter 6: In praise of contrapuntal harmonies.

Yairen Jerez Columbié investigates cultural exchange, postcolonial identities and ecologies, and the sociohistorical dimensions of environmental challenges. She is an Assistant Professor in Latin American Studies and Intercultural Communication at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.