Customer Reviews

Flamenco: Passion, Politics and Popular Culture (Explorations in Anthropology)

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Mixing the erudite and colloquial language, Washabaugh's text has so many references to other sources one begins to wonder whether any of the content is actually original. Since he's an American Anthropologist I suppose one should forgive his limited view of an art form whose cultural roots must be as alien to him as little green men from Mars. The author seems to think flamenco performers are 'doing politics' whether they want to or not. He totally misses the point that flamenco has no high ideals, and no political goals, apart from serving as an emotional catalyst. On his web article about some of the videos he talks about in this book, his lack of research is really deplorable. No- Do in Seville comes from the days of Alfonso X in the 13th Century when the loyalty of the city led him to proclaim No Me Han Dejado- They Did Not Abandon Me on the coat of arms of the city. Nothing to do with Christ's cry from the cross, Mr. Washabaugh, do your homework.

William Washabaugh certainly provides interesting fired-up criticism about the works of other flamencologists, but fails to explain some of his own theories adequately. Washabaugh's theories might be interesting for ethnomusicologists to study further, but the supportive arguments in this book are too weak to take seriously. It seems like he loads his explanations with technical jargon and obscure references as to make his work appear more legitimate, but all he accomplishes is confusing every reader without a PhD. Constantly deviating from his stated thesis, Washabaugh sometimes even diverging into irrelevant topics of philosophy and general sociological theory. Most of the book does present interesting theory, supported by anecdotal evidence, combining the works of other scholars, but these theories may be tricky for beginners to understand. This book could be recommended to people knowledgeable in the study of flamenco history and also in general philosophy, but will be difficult to read for anyone new to the field of flamencology.