Primitive Modernities: Tango, Samba, and Nation by Florencia Garramuño (review)
In Modernidades primitivas (2007), Florencia Garramuno explores convergences between the two genres and the way that each has participated in the formation of a modern national identity. The recent publication of this book in English grants a broad international readership access to these ideas. The central premise of the book is that Argentines and Brazilians resignified the tango and samba as symbols of their modern nations. The author uses the term "primitive modernities" in the title to underscore the unity that underlies this seeming contradiction. She supports her ideas by analyzing discourses embedded in the tango and the samba that participated in the construction of modern nations. With this approach, she takes the reader on a fascinating tour of literature, visual arts, and the cinema that includes the works of Aluisio Azevedo, Jorge Luis Borges, Ricardo Giiiraldes, Manuel Galvez, Mario de Andrade, Oswald de Andrade, Emiliano Di Cavalcanti, Emilio Pettoruti, Carlos Gardel, and Carmen Miranda. Through her reading of these cultural texts, she identifies a complex process of negotiation and conflict through which the primitive and modern converge.