Book review: Blázquez, Gustavo (2014). Dance it! Gender, race and eroticism in Cuarteto Cordobés. 1ª ed. Autonomous City of Buenos Aires: Gorla

Abstract

What is a “cuarteto” dance like? Who attends? How do those who “are there” see themselves? How are they seen by those who don’t go? What social relationships are shaped within the dance? From an ethnographic perspective informed by respect and empathy, Blázquez looks at the sociopolitical relationships that are built between young people from the popular classes of the city of Córdoba in “cuarteto” dances. Departing from a stigmatizing and homogenizing view: “everyone who goes to the dance is negro”; the author shows the materialization of social hierarchies linked to gender, social class, race and age in a peculiar way: through music, dance, the use of space, fashion and bodies. This makes his analysis more complex: he investigates logics of classification, division and social exclusion that are enabled in a fun, attractive and vital environment for young people. Thus, “the dance” is a pedagogical space in which social hierarchies are learned and practised. “Going to the dance” allows adolescents to have a joyful and pleasurable exposition to social hierarchies through which they learn to place themselves (and others) in more or less hegemonic or subaltern positions through different contextualised performances.