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Folkloric dance in Cuba, the problematic term given to traditional and religious Afro-Cuban performance, is well known as an essential part of Cuban cultural production by those living on and visiting the island. Kristina Wirtz offers rich detail of this black cultural tradition in Santiago de Cuba while also problematizing the racialization that accompanies lo folkorico. In her book, Wirtz uses these performances to highlight not only historical racial logics, but the ways in which these logics are reproduced today.

The authorLs mode of analysis, performances of and about African-derived religion, slavery and the colonial period, is particularly useful for Cuban racial scholarship as these are the representations of blackness that the state supports for domestic and tourist consumption. Wirtz makes the critical argument that while the stateLs cultural agenda preserves traditional forms of black performance and music, it also …