RSVP

Mercedes Liska is an Associate Researcher at CONICET, specializing in the sociology of music and culture at the Gino Germani Research Institute (University of Buenos Aires). She holds a degree in Ethnomusicology, a Master’s in Communication and Culture, and a Ph.D. in Social Sciences. She teaches in the Communication Sciences program at UBA and the Ethnomusicology program at the Manuel de Falla Conservatory. Dr. Liska has been part of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) since 2004, and served as president the Latin American Branch of the association from 2018 to 2020.

Her work focuses on popular music, gender, and sexuality, and she spearheaded the movement that lead to Argentina’s 2019 "Live Music Female Quota" which requires at least 30% of musicians in live events to be women.

Lourdes Davila

Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, professor Dávila has danced professionally, from classical to post-modern dance, for over thirty years. She holds a PhD in Literature from Harvard University, and is the founder and managing editor of Esferas, a multidisciplinary journal housed in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at NYU. Her first book, Desembarcos en el papel. La imagen en la literatura de Julio Cortázar, was published with Beatriz Viterbo in 2001. Professor Dávila publishes and teaches on the relationship of dance and photography with literature and politics. She was the recipient of NYU's Distinguished Teaching Award in 2019 and has twice received the CAS Golden Dozen Teaching Award.

Pepa Anastasio

Originally from Spain, Pepa Anastasio joined Hofstra after receiving her doctorate at SUNY, Buffalo. Her academic background is in English and Spanish Literature, Cultural Studies, and Queer theory. She is the editor of a collection of stories by Spanish contemporary writer Juan José Millás, (Personality Disorders and Other Stories, New York: MLA, 2007). Her current book project, Frivolities: The Productive Pleasures of Popular Culture, involves the study of cultural practices in Spain (and other Spanish-speaking locations) from the turn of the 20th-Century to the present. Central to her inquiry is the notion of "productive pleasures", that is, the idea that the enjoyment that derives from the practices of popular culture may open the way for social and political transformation. She has published on this topic in Spain, USA and the UK.

About the book

If, historically, the main feature in censored popular dances was the movement of the hips, more recently, attention has shifted to the shaking and movement of the glutes. The backside—often referenced as "las partes bajas" in Bakhtinian popular lexicon—has emerged as a contested cultural and political symbol, examined through various perspectives, debates, and experiences. Dance styles with a high erotic density, like perreo and twerking, and music genres such as cumbia, reggaeton, trap, or electropop are seen by many as sexist and degrading for women. However, in recent years, alternative perspectives have gained visibility and acceptance, promoted by artists who reclaim these practices as forms of bodily autonomy and joy. Dance has been embraced by feminist discourse as a resource for asserting sexual sovereignty, creating a novel connection between gender-political claims and women’s erotic expression in the musical realm.

This book offers a journey through popular pan-Latin music with widespread appeal and its alignment with the Ni Una Menos movement and gender rights activism, from a feminist cultural critique perspective. "Mi culo es mío" (My Ass is Mine) paraphrases the 1960s slogan "My Body is Mine," which regained relevance in the fight against gender violence and for legal abortion, reframing feminist discussions and stances on public sexual freedom expressed in and through music.

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