Living Quixote - (Performing Latin American and Caribbean Identities) by Rogelio Minana (Paperback)

About the Book

How the literary classic Don Quixote is appropriated in social justice theater and youth activism in Brazil and throughout the Americas

Book Synopsis

The 400th anniversaries of Don Quixote in 2005 and 2015 sparked worldwide celebrations that brought to the fore its ongoing cultural and ideological relevance. Living Quixote examines contemporary appropriations of Miguel de Cervantes's masterpiece in political and social justice movements in the Americas, particularly in Brazil.

In this book, Cervantes scholar Rogelio Miñana examines long-term, Quixote-inspired activist efforts at the ground level. Through what the author terms performative activism, Quixote-inspired theater companies and nongovernmental organizations deploy a model for rewriting and enacting new social roles for underprivileged youth. Unique in its transatlantic, cross-historical, and community-based approach, Living Quixote offers both a new reading of Don Quixote and an applied model for cultural activism--a model based, in ways reminiscent of Paulo Freire, on the transformative potential of performance, literature, and art.

About the Author

Rogelio Miñana is professor of Spanish and head of the Department of Global Studies and Modern Languages at Drexel University. He is the author of Monstruos que hablan: El discurso de la monstruosidad en Cervantes and La verosimilitud en el Siglo de Oro: Cervantes y la novela corta.