39518 Rumba Performance and the
Politics of Place in the Era of
Cultural Tourism
Rebecca Bodenheimer
This paper examines the politics of place vis-à-vis the cultural tourism
industry in contemporary Cuba, by comparing the conditions of
rumba performance in two cities, Havana and Matanzas. This Afro-
Cuban music and dance genre has been practiced in both cities since
the late nineteenth century, but I propose that rumba musicians in
each place face distinct circumstances in the post-Soviet era stemming
from economic changes introduced in the 1990s to mitigate the crisis
of the Special Period. Based on my ethnographic research with rumba
groups in Havana and Matanzas from 2004 to 2008, I will detail the
various categories and contexts of performance in both cities, includ-
ing state-sponsored venues, community events, and “for-profit” gigs
that have arisen as a result of the new market-oriented economy. I will
also discuss the audiences that attend the different events, elucidating
how these demographics relate to the politics of place. My main goal
is to present a contrasting picture of rumba scenes in Havana and
Matanzas and to propose that the particular positions of these two cit-