The book investigates the development of teatro bufo, Cuba's
vernacular theater, as a pivotal intersection of national being
and belonging in the final decades of the island's Spanish
occupation. By following this influential performative thread,
Lane imaginatively moves through one of the more undertheorized
periods of Cuban history. Its contribution in this regard is
extraordinary. The book takes place in an era of cataclysmic
events, including the massacre of hundreds of free blacks and
slaves in 1844, and the first failed attempt at independence
known as the Ten Years' War. Her chapters capture the irresolute
sentiments uniquely brought about by the project of nation
building. By situating her archive through Partha Chatterjee's
conception of the "anticolonial," Lane slows down those direct
routes used to analyze Cuba's transition from colony to post
colony—a forced discursive progression. By doing so, Lane
embraces those difficult moments—indeed, some of the most
contradictory and fascinating in Cuban hi