Published: Oct. 22, 2020

Ìý

AzucaMonday, NovemberÌý2, 5:30 pm on Zoom (MST)

AÌýCounterpoints LectureÌýwith Kristie Soares,ÌýAssistant Professor of Women & Gender Studies
, ZoomÌýmeeting ID:Ìý940 2532 5981

Free and Open to Everyone

Professor Soares will deliver the inaugural AMRCÌýCounterpoints LectureÌý(featuring interdisciplinary distinguished music scholars) with her talk, "Dancing With Death: Celia Cruz’s Azúcar and Queer of Color Survival."ÌýThis presentationÌýexplores the evolution of Celia Cruz’s signature catchphraseÌýazúcarÌý[sugar]Ìýfrom her early career with Fania Records, to her later music with Sony Music, and finally to its posthumous adoption by queer fans of color both at her funeral and in the aftermath of the 2016 Pulse Nightclub massacre. In doing so the talk arguesÌýthatÌýazúcarÌýrepresentedÌýan embodied way to negotiate the patriarchal norms of the artist’s records labels, a mode of pushing back against the aspirational whiteness and heteronormativity of the Cuban community, and a model for queer of color survival in a murderous world.