The first book solely devoted to Puerto Rican visability and cultural impact The author looks as such pop icons as JLo and Ricky Martin as well as West Side Story Boricua Pop is the first book solely devoted to Puerto Rican visibility cultural impact and identity formation in the U S and at home Frances Negron Muntaner explores everything from the beloved American musical West Side Story to the phenomenon of singer actress fashion designer Jennifer Lopez from the faux historical chronicle Seva to the creation of Puerto Rican Barbie from novelist Rosario Ferre to performer Holly Woodlawn and from painter provocateur Andy Warhol to the seemingly overnight success story of Ricky Martin Negron Muntaner traces some of the many possible itineraries of exchange between American and Puerto Rican cultures including the commodification of Puerto Rican cultural practices such as voguing graffiti and the Latinization of pop music Drawing from literature film painting and popular culture and including both the normative and the odd the canonized authors and the misfits the island and its diaspora Boricua Pop is a fascinating blend of low life and high culture a highly original challenging and lucid new work by one of our most talented cultural critics