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Focusing on the representations of carnival and its comparsas (carnival bands and music), this book offers new readings of poems by seminal Cuban poets, examining how their poetic work illustrating these traditions both contributed to and detracted from the growth of a tangible Afro-Cuban identity. All of these poems relate in some way or the other to the cultural and intellectual phenomenon known as Afrocubanismo. This phenomenon thrived in Havana, initiating in the late 1920s. The book examines, from a literary perspective, the long-running debate between the proponents of Afro-Cuban cultural manifestations and the predominantly white Cuban intelligentsia, who viewed these traditions as “backward” and counter to the interests of the young Republic.

This chapter examines a poem that is widely held to be one of the most significant precursors to the poetry of Afrocubanismo. Pichardo Moya's “La comparsa” was originally published in 1916—just four years after the Racist Massacre of 1912—and the chapter argues that its reputation as an important precursor has largely overshadowed its obvious conjuration of the deep-seated prejudices against Afro-Cuban carnival celebrations and related cultural manifestations that had led to their official banning during the early decades of the twentieth century. In this chapter it is demonstrated how “La comparsa” echoes many aspects of the early writings of the man who was, at the time, one of Cuba's preeminent criminologists.

The focus of this chapter—“Carnival and Ñáñiguismo: Poetic Syncretism in Alejo Carpentier's ‘Juego santo’”—is a little-studied poem by one of the earliest literary proponents of Afrocubanismo. This chapter begins with a brief exploration of Carpentier's decisive role as a founder of this artistic and cultural movement, but the focus is on the poem itself and, more specifically, its relationship to and evocation of Afro-Cuban carnival traditions. The chapter demonstrates how—in an act of poetic syncretism—Alejo Carpentier melds two public spectacles that had long been associated with Ñáñiguismo, or the Abakuá secret society: semi-public, sacred processions that were performed as part of ñáñigo initiation ceremonies, and carnivalesque “comparsas ñáñigas,” which first emerged during nineteenth-century Día de Reyes celebrations, and then eventually became integrated into traditional carnival festivities.

This chapter sheds light on “La conga prohibida,” a marvelous poem composed by Felix B. Caignet. Among numerous poems which look at Afrocubanismo dealings with Afro-Cuban carnival celebrations, this is the only poem referring to and openly disapproving of governmental prohibitions of the traditional congas during the early decades of the Cuban Republic. This chapter reveals that this particular poem differs from other poems dealing with the same subject because it aspires to satirize the social and political hypocrisies prevailing in Santiago rather than just portraying an exaggerated sketch of a conga and its Afro-Cuban participants.

The final chapter focuses on a fascinating poetic rendition of traditional Havana carnival celebrations by the Spanish poet, Alfonso Camín. After a brief discussion of Camín's much-debated role as an initiator of poesía negra in the Hispanic Caribbean, the chapter delve into his “Carnaval en la Habana” [Carnival in Havana]. This long poem was first published in Maracas y otros poemas [Maracas and Other Poems] in 1952, but was probably penned in the 1940s when Afrocubanismo was on the wane, but it is still of considerable interest to the reading public.

The ideological and aesthetic issues associated with the New Negro Movement (and its various domestic and international manifestations) are addressed. Each of these movements—the Harlem Renaissance, Noirisme, Negritude, and Afrocubanismo—gave rise to different and idiosyncratic music; and during these movements, the various black expressive arts became relevant to each other. Moreover, black expressive artists referenced their heritage in a way that was undeniable and, given the time and circumstances, unavoidable. Finally, these artists not only transformed their own artistic impulse into something noteworthy, but their expressions proved to be pivotal gestures that demanded attention during the first half of the twentieth century.