BERRY, MAYA J. 2025. Defending Rumba in Havana: The Sacred and Black Corporeal Undercommons. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 311 pg., ISBN 9781478031338           

Outsiders to Rumba may mistakenly view the art form as just one of a number of dances with Afro-Latin historical origins. Western images of Rumba tend to portray the dance with images of sweaty bodies displaying forms of rhythm and sexuality. Dances are reduced to exotic displays of tropical escapism. However, Rumba is far more complex. It is an art form that speaks to issues such as agency, power and gender. It is a powerful spiritual tool communicating narratives of social rebellion in the face of colonialism. It is empowering as it enables discussions and displays related to race, gender, and social roles.  

Rumba is far more than Hollywood depictions and tourist displays. In Defending Rumba in Havana: The Sacred and Black Corporeal Undercommons author Maya J. Berry takes readers into the etic physical realm of Rumba in Havana Cuba while leading us on the journey to the emic where we learn of the significance of Rumba as a conduit of the human experience.

Berry opens the book with some fundamental information about Rumba. In 2016 UNESCO nominated Cuban Rumba as an intangible cultural heritage. While this is an important recognition, Berry shares that Rumberos claim to be heirs to enslaved and African diaspora co-presences. It is an artform that serves as a symbol against capitalism and racial discrimination. The author explains that the use of the terms ‘Black Corporeal Undercommons’ refers to a Black geography grounded by the spiritual maneuvers of everyday Black people. The term ‘under’ is used to allude to outsider perceptions of Rumba and Rumberos as ‘under’ respectabilities. The term ‘under’ is also a term that was used by Cuban criminologist Fernando Ortiz in his early writings on Afro-Latin spiritual traditions. Some of these traditions such as the Abakuá societies that came from the Efik and Ekpe people of the Cross River region of Africa began to appear on the radar of local colonialists in Cuba. Local perceptions painted many African traditional activities and practices as ‘witchcraft’ and practices reserved for the criminal underworld. Ortiz would write of Rumba as being obscene and savage.

As Berry describes, Rumba gained a reputation for being a cultural symbol of revolutionary values of integration and egalitarianism. Rumba began to appear in the cabildos, gathering places for African communities set up by colonialists. The opening chapter ‘Black Inclusion, Black Enclosure’ begins with the cabildos that were established in order to avoid slave rebellions. Cabildos for the Lucumi (Yoruba), Congo (Ki-Kongo Speaking) and the Carabali (Efik) communities served in providing mutual aid for their communities. The importance of Rumba to many of these communities, Berry explains, is that it pertains to connections to human and divine forces as well ancestral wisdom. Early displays of African dances in the 1800’s were considered by colonialists as savage and offensive. However, Rumba began to appear in the public eye in the 1930’s when there was a move to appropriate Black popular cultures for nationalists goals. White middle-class performers began doing a style of Rumba that had little resemblance to Rumba among the Black working class. However, Rumba began to become associated with Abakuá societies which led to the state targeting of practices as ‘anti-social.’ Rumba would find itself becoming more intertwined with the many African based spiritual traditions in Cuba as sacred songs and chants to Yoruba deities would be performed with Rumba clave, a specific rhythmic pat