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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’ 



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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 pattern used 

in the dance.  

The second chapter ‘Black Feminist Aptitudes’ begins with some historical explorations into 

Rumba and colonialism. The Yumba, a Congo inspired Rumba is mentioned for its stance against 

colonialism. The formation of choirs related to the Rumba variant known as Guaguanco came from 

the Cabildo based mutual aid societies. The Guaguanco Rumba is noted for its inclusion of a dance 

that features themes of fertility. Berry shares that many of the female postures in Rumba paralleled 

the social positions of women in Cuban society. The performance of the Guaguanco tells a story 

of a woman being pursued by a man who wishes to ‘vaccinate’ her sexually. Through an 

anthropological lens, Berry shares that the movement and placement of the body in specific spaces 

in the Rumba produces a specific social meaning. She notes that historically, Rumberos posed a 

challenge to the white middle class standards of femininity and respectability.   

Berry encourages readers to see the role that Rumba plays in speaking of issues tied to the sexual 

economy in slavery. The author takes a focus through Black Feminism in looking at aspects of 



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bodies being appraised as sexual and cultural commodities. Rumba becomes a stage in which 

Black working class women give themselves value while sadly expressing the theme that they may 

be consumed rather than heard from. In the 1930’s and 1950’s Rumba became a tool used by white 

Cuban writers to recruit or ‘discover’ dancers as sexual toys. In the 1960’s Rumba became a tool 

of the state as revolutionary leaders would speak of rescuing Black women from promiscuity and 

prostitution. By the 1990’s Rumba became a tourist attraction for the state.  

During Berry’s journey into several important cultural and historical points necessary to 

understand the complexity of Rumba, she also shares her story and personal experiences as a 

dancer in Cuba. She shares testimonies of dancers who still fight sexual advances from those that 

look upon women in Rumba as sexual objects. She shares important personal insights into the role 

that Rumba plays in empowering women to metaphorically halt masculine domination as seen in 

the Guaguanco dance. As the male dancer chases the woman in the dance, it is the woman that 

decides to stop or engage advances. 

Chapter Three entitled ‘Sacred Swagger and It’s Social Order’ looks at the topic of social order 

within the context of Rumba. As many Afro-Latin communities such as the Abakuá established 

their own social orders in spite of the orders set forth by colonialism, so Rumba establishes its own 

social order. Readers are treated to the history and folklife of the music group Yoruba Andabo.  

In Chapter Four, ‘Moving Labor across Markets,’ the author invites readers to observe how Rumba 

interacts with Cuban social relations. She looks at how the economy of Cuban religions in 

contemporary Cuba functions as services for priests, offerings for the deities and Rumba for 

tourism all serve as components of this economy.  

Chapter Five, ‘Underworld Assembly,’ looks at how Rumba gives agency. The role that Rumba 

serves in connecting women and co-presences spiritually speaks to a stand against secular 

constitutions of nations. As some colonists described cabildo dancers as a black cloud over the 

city, the author speaks of ‘reclaiming the Afro-Cuban underworld.’ Cabildo dancers were 

frequently labeled as witchcraft and criminal deviancy. The true activities of cabildo activities were 

of self-preservation and identity but were marginalized by colonialist propaganda.  



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Maya J. Berry concludes this journey into Rumba as she describes herself as studying with a Black 

Feminist interpretive position. This gives readers a crucial vantage point in understanding the 

gendered and racial narratives found in both the history and performance of the dance.  

Defending Rumba in Havana: The Sacred and Black Corporeal Undercommons is a wonderful 

contribution to the field of anthropology, ethnomusicology, feminist studies and African religious 

studies.  

 

Tony Kail (BA-Arizona State; MA-Eastern University) has served as an anthropologist in the 

academic, public and private sectors. He currently teaches undergraduate courses in Cultural 

Anthropology, Introduction to Anthropology and Contemporary Issues in Anthropology. Today he 

serves as a curator for the Humboldt Tennessee Historical Museum. 

 

 

 

© 2025 Tony Kail 

 


