Playful Protest

Happy National Hispanic Heritage Month! This week’s review examines how joy is used as a form of protest in Latinx media.

Posted on September 16, 2024 in Reviews of the Month

Playful Protest: The Political Work of Joy in Latinx Media

Soares, Kristie. Illinois, 2023
264p bibl index, 9780252045295 $110.00, 9780252087424 $28.00, 9780252054815 $19.95

An important intervention in Latinx cultural studies, Playful Protest is a study of joy in Latinx media. Over the course of five chapters and a coda, Soares (women and gender studies, Univ. of Colorado) considers how six manifestations of joy (gozando, precise joy, choteo, azúcar, dale, and silliness) work to counter stereotypical depictions of the Latinx community and continue its vibrant tradition of protest. The arrangement of the chapters and coda is historical, beginning with gendered discourses in the salsa music industry and ending with an analysis of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s digital media presence. Among the book’s most important contributions to the field are its chapter on the groundbreaking sitcom ¿Qué pasa, USA?, which originally aired in 1977–80 and continues to run in syndication on Miami’s PBS station, and its chapter on renowned singer Celia Cruz’s evocation of azúcar as a philosophy and embodiment of joy. The book is an unmatched theorization of joy that is timely and necessary.

Summing Up: Essential. General readers through faculty.
Reviewer: J. Gomez Menjivar, University of North Texas
Interdisciplinary Subject: Latin American & Latina/o Studies
Subject: Humanities – Communication
Choice Issue: May 2024

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