| Publication |
2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Although bomba remains a largely understudied musical genre, the majority of studies on bomba have focused on the historicizing or anthropological detailing of bomba as an Afro-Puerto Rican musical tradition. Recognizing the importance of these initial studies, this article critically interrogates the gendered dimensions of bomba dancing as well as the historical and structural implications imbued within colonial and racialized contexts. In short, the gendered division of cultural labor in bomba has received notable recognition, whereas bomba as a racialized and "gendered experience/expression" has not been sufficiently explored. The performers mentioned in this study include two youth bands as well as audience members from the San Juan metropolitan area (between the ages of 18 and 30) who participated in an ethnographic study during the summer of 2002. Based on this fieldwork and data, this presentation uses the historically "situated imaginaries" of these youth performers as means to understand the ways in which bomba is used and experienced differently by female and male practitioners (Stoetzler and Yuval-Davis 2002). This article maintains that (1) the relationship between dance partners remains marginal in meaning infused contexts of bomba and that (2) bomba as experienced by the performers in this study provides a useful research lens for reexamining both popular and colonial representations of gender performance within the public and private spheres in Puerto Rico.
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