The strength of an anthology often lies in its contributors’ efforts to create a harmonious exchange of ideas that builds toward a singular, if complex, argument. Taíno Revival takes a deliberately different tack; here, a cacophony of voices engages in contradictory and sometimes heated debates over questions of Puerto Rican identity. Contributors seek to explain the recent phenomenon of “Taíno resurgence”: that is, the assumption of a precolumbian indigenous identity by a growing number of Puerto Ricans, most of whom were born and raised in the United States. Based on papers originally presented at a 1998 symposium in New York’s El Museo del Barrio, the book explores a fundamental question best posed by the symposium’s organizer, anthropologist Arlene Dávila: “[Does] the Taíno resurgence represent a daring oppositional blow to the canons of the [racial] blending myth of Puerto Rican nationality, or is it better seen as yet another example of...

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