Aesthetics of Excess

“Aesthetics of Excess brings together culo, spandex, and style to make bold provocations on race, aesthetics, and embodiment. Making a sparkling intervention into conversations on racialized sexuality, Hernandez uses the "body narratives" we inherit to add fleshy substance to our understanding of how color, culture, and class shape how subjects traverse geographies of belonging.” - Juana María Rodríguez, author of Sexual Futures, Queer Gestures, and Other Latina Longings

“I am thrilled that Jillian Hernandez has found a thoughtful, thorough way to begin a conversation around the Latinx, academic, and institutional discomfort with what they perceive as young women's problematic, not-Latina-feminist-enough gender politics. What a joy it is to know that this highly original and downright necessary book is now in the world. Aesthetics of Excess makes an outstanding contribution to feminist scholarship.” - Maria Elena Buszek, author of Pin-Up Grrrls: Feminism, Sexuality, Popular Culture

"There’s a real beauty to being able to own yourself and how you show up in the world; Aesthetics of Excess illuminates it." - Evette Dionne, Bitch Media

“[Aesthetics of Excess] serves as an anti-racist, queer, class-disrupting, and feminist creative expression. . . . Hernández is intentional and nuanced in her language choice, topics addressed, and writing style.”

“Black and Latina aesthetic practices are carefully crafted and layered. Aesthetics of Excess treats these self-stylings with the nuance they deserve, understanding them as interventions in a visual landscape that surveilles excess as a way to continually police working-class women of color.” - Kristie Soares, Latino Studies

“In a world that continually tells Black and Latina girls to take up less space, to be less visible, to do their work without comment, sigh, or sass, Hernandez and her team at WOTR celebrate the excess. . . . Hernandez deftly explores and theorizes the contours of blackness and latinidad in Miami.” - Aria S. Halliday, American Quarterly

“Hernandez manages the difficult feat of crafting an approachable text that could be read by the young women she speaks with while remaining faithful to the demands of a scholarly monograph. . . . [The Aesthetics of Excess] is a thrilling work that never forgets that loving its subjects is essential to scholarly precision.” - Iván Ramos, Lateral

"The book’s strength lies in Hernandez’s sharp arguments and the theoretical threads she interweaves. Rather than considering Black and Latina body aesthetics against the implicit whiteness of categories deemed 'standard' or 'tasteful' in mainstream US culture, the book names them, claims them, and presents them in their own light." - Alicia Eler, Hyperallergic