In the last three decades or so, the humanities have given increasing attention to indigenous and minority ethnic groups around the globe. Issues of indigenous language policy, transculturalism, displacement, globalization and language maintenance are the most explored areas when dealing with minority ethnic groups. The rise of theories attempting to give voice to indigenous subjects, notably Anzaldùa's Borderlands, has helped indigenous studies to acquire the status of an academic discipline. The rise of the specialist academic has in turn fostered a diverse and growing body of scholarly writings under the aegis of minority ethnicity or indigenous studies.

Michele Back's book, Transcultural performance: Negotiating globalized indigenous identities, is a pioneering research work where the author articulates a journeying into the many specifics of language, identity and culture of an indigenous group. The focus is on one community of practice—an Andean folkloric music group called Runa Takiks. In her exploration, Back departs from the many studies that have examined indigenous and minority language issues at the macro level to opt for a micro-analytic perspective focusing on how certain policies, histories and beliefs informed the participants’ practices on a daily basis.

In this eight-chapter book, Michele Back manages to argue that the members of this indigenous group, Runa Takiks, negotiate their transcultural and translingual selves in different ways and according to different factors that shape their lives at a given moment. In the introductory chapter, the author provides her readers with a brief history of the two indigenous ethnic groups—the Runa Takiks and the Otavalos—so as to localize them within the wider Latin South American context. She also introduces the methodology she followed in doing her research. In chapter 2, the author outlines current definitions of globalization and transculturalism. A discussion of the disconnection that may exist between the two notions and of indigenous language maintenance is also highlighted in this second chapter. Chapter 3 offers a detailed explanation of the movement from structuralist to poststructuralist views of identity and how these differences have changed perceptions of transcultural interactions. In chapter 3, the author continues to highlighting theoretical issues, notably the paradox with respect to gender, language use and language maintenance. She explores, in this section, how men and women of the target indigenous ethnic group practice language maintenance. Back concludes that the differences are related not to gender, but rather to the different spaces that the Runa Takiks and their wives inhabit. Chapters 5 and 6 offer a detailed examination of transcultural performances of gender and ethnicity related to the target indigenous group: The Runa Takiks. In chapter 7, and before concluding her book and the study, Michele Back presents the end of her research journey with the Runa Takiks after seven years of observation. In this chapter, the author explains the identity and language changes that have occurred in this community, and particularly for the new generation.