Carmen in Diaspora - Adaptation, Race, and Opera's Most Famous Character

Carmen in Diaspora is a cultural history of Carmen adaptations set in African diasporic contexts. Beginning with Prosper Mérimée''s novella and Georges Bizet''s opera and continuing through twentieth- and twentieth-first century interpretations in literature, film, and musical theatre, the book explores how opera''s most famous character has exceeded the 19th-century French context in which she was created and taken on a life of her own. Through this transformation, the Carmen figure has sparked important conversations not only about French culture and canonical opera but also about Black womanhood, community, and self-determination.