FLORENCIA GARRAMUŃO: Primitive Modernities: Tango, Samba, and Nation. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2011.

Abstract

How is it that tango and samba succeeded in overcoming their modest beginnings to finally achieve national recognition and become symbols of their countries? The answer that Florencia Garramuño offers in her book Primitive Modernitiesis twofold: on the one hand, the taste of the elites moved towards these popular genres, becoming (relatively) more plebeian; on the other hand, these genres became progressively “more sophisticated and polished” (p. 22) until they eventually garnered the aura of prestige associated with the “civilized” world.