On the Plaza: The Politics of Public Space and Culture
Summary
Robert B. Textor Prize for Excellence in Anticipatory Anthropology, American Anthropological Association, 2000
Honorable Mention, Victor Turner Award, Society for Humanistic Anthropology, 2001
Leeds Prize, Society of Urban, National, and Transnational/Global Anthropology, 2001 Friendly gossip, political rallies, outdoor concerts, drugs, shoeshines, and sex-for-sale—almost every aspect of Latin American life has its place and time in the public plaza. In this wide-ranging, multi-disciplinary study, Setha M. Low explores the interplay of space and culture in the plaza, showing how culture acts to shape public spaces and how the physical form of the plaza encodes the social and economic relations within its city. Low centers her study on two plazas in San José, Costa Rica, with comparisons to public plazas in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere. She interweaves ethnography, history, literature, and personal narrative to capture the ambiance and meaning of the plaza. She also uncovers the contradictory ethnohistories of the European and indigenous origins of the Latin American plaza and explains why the plaza is often a politically contested space.
Similar Books
-
-
-
Barrio-Logos: Space and Place in Urban Chicano Literature and Cultureby Raúl Homero Villa
-
Dance and the Body Politic in Northern Greeceby Jane K. Cowan
-
-
-
Holy Land in Transit: Colonialism and the Quest for Canaanby Steven Salaita
-
-
-
-
Latin American Male Homosexualitiesby Stephen O. Murray
-
-
Russian Culture At The Crossroads: Paradoxes Of Postcommunist Consciousnessby Dmitri N. Shalin
-
Australian Civilisationby Richard Nile
-
The English-Vernacular Divide: Postcolonial Language Politics and Practiceby Vaidehi Ramanathan
-
Carnival and the Formation of a Caribbean Transnationby Philip W. Scher
-
Class Action: Reading Labor, Theory, and Valueby William S. Corlett
-
Cultural Participation: Trends since the Middle Agesby Ann Rigney
-
Family and Identity in Contemporary Cuban and Puerto Rican Dramaby Camilla Stevens
-
New Visions of Community in Contemporary American Fiction: Tan, Kingsolver, Castillo, Morrisonby Magali Cornier Michael
-
