Brazil’s manguebeat of the nineties was one of the most fertile Latin American cultural scenes of recent decades, not only for its rich musical creation but also for the playful, yet profound vision of social and ecological justice it championed. Twenty-some years after the death of Chico Science, its most iconic personality, this essay explores the strikingly relational philosophical bent at its core—one molded by the collectivism typical of its origins in local and global expressions of Black Atlantic cultures. Manguebeat was swamped in everyday philosophical questions about which kinds of knowledge, power, and being served to exacerbate violence, inequality, and harm to the environment, and which could instead encourage greater peace and harmony. Analyzing Chico Science’s three music videos, I discuss the “coexistentialism” of manguebeat, not only in a pacifistic sense or one of environmental rebirth but also in its insistence that all real living is “living with.”

Gendering Legislative Behavior: Institutional Constraints and Collaboration. By Tiffany D. Barnes. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Pp. viii + 274. $34.99 paperback. ISBN: 9781316507650.

Women, Politics, and Democracy in Latin America. Edited by Tomáš Došek, Flavia Freidenberg, Mariana Caminotti, and Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. Pp. v + 243. $87.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781349950089.

Inclusion without Representation in Latin America: Gender Quotas and Ethnic Reservations. By Mala Htun. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Pp. x + 226. $26.68 paperback. ISBN: 9780521690836.

Women in Mexican Politics: A Study of Representation in a Renewed Federal and Democratic State. By Fernanda Vidal Correa. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2016. Pp. ix + 122. $75.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781498534390.

Gender, Institutions, and Change in Bachelet’s Chile. Edited by Georgina Waylen. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. Pp. ix + 244. $101.64 hardcover. ISBN: 9781137501974.

Este artículo explora el mundo de las botánicas —consideradas como farmacias invisibles— en la Ciudad de Nueva York en donde practicantes de las religiones afrocaribeñas, especialmente Santería, ejercen un doble rol como líderes religiosos y consejeros espirituales. Las botánicas atienden a una población latinoamericana, a menudo migrante e indocumentada, que llega a ellas buscando soluciones efectivas a una plétora de problemas (ej., desde trastornos orgánicos hasta maltrato laboral y conflictos familiares). Los consejeros entienden los síntomas individuales como una disrupción con el mundo social y espiritual, a menudo provocado por “maleficios” y energías negativas circundantes. Las respuestas terapéuticas mas frecuentes combinan la consulta con el uso de plantas en infusiones, baños espirituales y oraciones (resumidos en la tríada: beber, limpiar y orar). El tema pone en evidencia el rol de los servicios terapéuticos que ofrecen las botánicas por cuanto proveen de respuestas rápidas, prácticas y económicamente accesibles a una población vulnerable.

This essay reviews the following works:

Twentieth-Century Latin American Revolutions. By Marc Becker. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2017. Pp. viii + 256. $39.00 paperback. ISBN: 9781442265875.

Sandino: Patria y libertad. By Alejandro Bendaña. Managua: Anamá Ediciones, 2016. Pp. v + 472. $49.90 paperback. ISBN: 9789992475485.

Salvador Allende: Revolutionary Democrat. By Victor Figueroa Clark. London: Pluto Press, 2013. Pp. x + 164. $22.00 paperback. ISBN: 9780745333076.

Insurgent Marcos: The Political-Philosophical Formation of the Zapatista Subcommander. By Nick Henck. Raleigh, NC: Editorial A Contra Corriente, 2016. Pp. 311. $19.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781945234033.

Cuba and Revolutionary Latin America: An Oral History. By Dirk Kruijt. London: Zed Books, 2017. Pp. xvi + 287. $27.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781783608027.

Picturing the Proletariat: Artists and Labor in Revolutionary Mexico, 1908–1940. By John Lear. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2017. Pp. xiii + 366. $29.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781477311509.

La esperanza and el delirio: Una historia de la izquierda en América Latina. By Ugo Pipitone. Mexico City: Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas; Taurus, 2015. Pp. 551. ISBN: 9786071137678.

This essay reviews the following works:

Persuasive Peers: Social Communication and Voting in Latin America. By Andy Baker, Barry Ames, and Lúcio Rennó. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2020. Pp. xxiv + 369. $32.00 paperback. ISBN: 9780691205779.

Lula and His Politics of Cunning: From Metalworker to President of Brazil. By John D. French. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2020. Pp. 520. $32.50 hardcover. ISBN: 9781469655765.

Modern Brazil: A Social History. By Herbert S. Klein and Francisco Vidal Luna. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2020. Pp. xv + 419. $36.99 paperback. ISBN: 9781108733298.

State-Sponsored Activism: Bureaucrats and Social Movements in Democratic Brazil. By Jessica A. J. Rich. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Pp. 256. $29.99 paperback. ISBN: 9781108456807.

From Revolution to Power in Brazil: How Radical Leftists Embraced Capitalism and Struggled with Leadership. By Kenneth P. Serbin. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2019. Pp. 462. $60.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780268105853.

Religion and Brazilian Democracy: Mobilizing the People of God. By Amy Erica Smith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019. Pp. 222. $105.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781108482110.

Decadent Developmentalism: The Political Economy of Democratic Brazil. By Matthew M. Taylor. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2020. Pp. 340. $99.99 hardcover. ISBN: 9781108842280.

Dano colateral: A intervenção dos militares na segurança pública. By Natalia Viana. Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, 2021. Pp. 348. ISBN: 9788547001292.

The Renaissance of Interest in Spanish Louisiana Over the Past Ten Years owes much to the acquisition of important document collections by such universities as Loyola in New Orleans, Northwestern of Louisiana, Tulane and Memphis State. Graduate students and scholars who lacked sufficient funds for research in Europe now find adequate materials in the United States.

This essay reviews the following works:

Brazil in Transition: Beliefs, Leadership, and Institutional Change. By Lee J. Alston, Marcus André Melo, Bernardo Mueller, and Carlos Pereira. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016. Pp. xi + 262. $39.50 hardcover. ISBN: 9780691162911.

The Political Construction of Brazil: Society, Economy, and State since Independence. By Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2016. Pp. x + 419. $85.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781626373075.

Making Brazil Work: Checking the President in a Multiparty System. By Marcus André Melo and Carlos Pereira. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. Pp. xiii + 212. $100.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9781137310835.

New Order and Progress: Development and Democracy in Brazil. Edited by Ben Ross Schneider. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016. Pp. ix + 307. $31.95 paperback. ISBN: 9780190462895.