Description
Book SynopsisExposing and challenging the taken-for-granted assumptions around questions of space, value and mobility that are sustained by neoliberal treatments of culture, this work explores the hierarchies of cultural workers that these engender, as they play out in a variety of settings, from art galleries in New York to tango tourism in Buenos Aires.
Trade Review"Culture Works challenges us to think critically about Latino/a culture and the men and women who create it every day. From shopping malls in Puerto Rico to art galleries in East Harlem and tango palaces in Bueños Aires, Arlene Dávila shows us the underbelly of a global political economy that gorges itself on authentic cultural forms and grinds them down into commodities. Dávilas understanding of these complex forces illuminates the connections between all creative landscapes and the elites who try to mold them to their political will." -- Sharon Zukin,author of Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places
"Culture Works looks deeply into and beyond the current rhetoric on art with an acuity and sense of irony and understanding of the realpolitiks that are all too rare in the cultural policy literature. Professor Dávila has given us a brilliant introduction and guide to the complex interactions of art, markets, politics, and community in the first part of the 21st century." -- Paul DiMaggio,author of Nonprofit Enterprise in the Arts
"The author effectively dissects the contradictory and often deleterious impact of neoliberal development in promoting inequalities of race, class, and nationality, while at the same time encoding and keying the value of Latin American folk art traditions and cultural economies...highly recommended for all academic levels/libraries." * CHOICE *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1 Ideologies of Consumption and the Business of Shopping Malls in Puerto Rico 2 Authenticity and Space in Puerto Rico's Culture-Based Informal Economy 3 The Battle for Cultural Equity in the Global Arts Capital of the World 4 The Trials of Building a National Museum of the American Latino 5 Through Commerce, for Community: Miguel Luciano's Nuyorican Interventions 6 Tango Tourism and the Political Economy of Space 7 Urban/Creative Expats: Outsourcing Lives in Buenos Aires Conclusion: The Cultural Politics of Neoliberalism Notes References Index About the Author
