City/Art: The Urban Scene in Latin America
Edited by Rebecca E. Biron
2009, Duke University Press
274 pages
AT TIMES theoretically complex, this book nonetheless offers an interesting overview of creative practices in Latin America’s urban environment. The contributors describe how creativity, broadly understood, combines with nationalistic rhetoric and historical discourse to define Latin America’s cities. Essays by anthropologists, literary and cultural critics, a philosopher and an architect offer diverse perspectives on what the city means to its inhabitants and how creative practices and representations inform these understandings. Big hitters include Néstor García Canclini and Nelly Richard. The book undertakes an original interdisciplinary dialogue between cultural studies and urban planning, and will be of value to students of urbanism. – EC
