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Colony, Cult and Culture

Alfredo Bosi

Edited by Pedro Meira Monteiro, Princeton University

Translated by Robert P. Newcomb, University of California Davis

Colony, Cult and Culture is an extraordinary reflection on the process of colonization, on the meanings of domination, of cultural resistance and negotiation in colonial and postcolonial societies. Departing from the roots of the word "colony," Alfredo Bosi investigates how cultural phenomena develop on a complex space that is neither purely erudite nor simply popular, and how a whole culture is to be found "beyond the pale of writing." "Culture" and "cult" are the forces that point to the future and to the past, conditioning the agency of those who struggle among the remains of colonial power. Through its theoretical depth and its moral and political engagement, this book welcomely brings fresh air to the discussions on postcolonialism and popular culture, making available for the English-speaking reader a fundamental essay of Latin American imagination.

Reception and launchings

Alfredo Cesar Melo (The University of Chicago) wrote a review essay on Colony, Cult and Culture for the Luso-Brazilian Review (Volume 46, Number 2, 2009). More here

Three launchings of Colony, Cult and Culture

@ the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

May 3, 2008 at the Colloquium Antonio Vieira & Futures of Luso-Afro-Brazilian Studies

@ Princeton University

Round table:
Alfredo Bosi (University of São Paulo)
Arcadio Díaz Quiñones (Spanish and Portuguese/Princeton)
Jeremy Adelman (History/Princeton)
Robert Newcomb (University of California at Davis)
Victor Mendes (University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth)
Pedro Meira Monteiro (Spanish and Portuguese/Princeton)

Wednesday, October 8, 2008 4:30 PM
103 Chancellor Green
Discussions will be held in Portuguese, Spanish and English

Sponsors:
Department of Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Cultures
Program in Latin American Studies
Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies
Center for African American Studies

Poster
Translator Robert Newcomb & author Alfredo Bosi
Guest editor Pedro Meira Monteiro & Claire Williams
After dinner photograph

@ Yale University

October 10, 2008 at the Sixth APSA conference