While Fernando Ortiz's contribution to our understanding of Cuba and Latin America more generally has been widely recognized since the 1940s, recently there has been renewed interest in this scholar and activist who made lasting contributions to a staggering array of fields. This book is the first work in English to reassess Ortiz's vast intellectual universe. Essays in this volume analyze and celebrate his contribution to scholarship in Cuban history, the social sciencesnotably anthropologyand law, religion and national identity, literature, and music. Presenting Ortiz's seminal thinking, including his profoundly influential concept of 'transculturation', Cuban Counterpoints explores the bold new perspectives that he brought to bear on Cuban society. Much of his most challenging and provocative thinkingwhich embraced simultaneity, conflict, inherent contradiction and hybridityhas remarkable relevance for current debates about Latin America's complex and evolving societies.

Mauricio A. Font is Professor of Sociology at Queens College and the Graduate Center. He also serves as Director of the Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies. Alfonso W. Quiroz is Professor of History at Baruch College.

Chapter 1 IntroductionChapter 2 Life and EducationChapter 3 Fernando Ortiz, My FatherChapter 4 Spanish Intellectuals and Fernando Ortiz (1900-1941)Chapter 5 It All Started in MadridChapter 6 Ethnography at the University of HavanaChapter 7 Interpreting Cuban HistoryChapter 8 Transculturation and NationalismChapter 9 The Early Republic: Politics, Civic Culture, and SovereigntyChapter 10 The Political Ideas of Fernando Ortiz (1906-1933)Chapter 11 Economic Historian and Editor of Cuban ClassicsChapter 12 Tobacco in the Contrapunteo: Ortiz and the Havana CigarChapter 13 Social Sciences and the LawChapter 14 Economic Sociology and Ortiz's CounterpointChapter 15 Transcultural Anthropology in the Américas (with an Accent): The Uses of Fernando OrtizChapter 16 Poetry in the Presidio: Towards a Study of Proyecto de Código Criminal CubanoChapter 17 Racial Diversity, Religion, and National IdentityChapter 18 The Term Afro-Cuban: A Forgotten ContributionChapter 19 Transculturation a la Ajiaco: A Recipe for ModernityChapter 20 Religion in the Work of Fernando OrtizChapter 21 Literature and MusicChapter 22 The Counterpoint and LiteratureChapter 23 Of How Fernando Ortiz Foudn and Elusive Maiden for an Enchanted GentlemanChapter 24 Comparative Analysis of Theoretical SymbolsChapter 25 Stirring the Ajiaco: Changüí, Son, and the Haitian ConnectionChapter 26 Fernando Ortiz, Founder