Afrocubanas: History, Thought, and Cultural Practices

Description

Originally published in Spanish and edited by Cuban historian Daisy Rubiera Castillo and playwright and theater critic Inés María Martiatu Terry, this ground-breaking edited collection is the first work of its kind. It places the experiences of black and mulata women at the center of Cuban history. Including essays from a mix of well-known and newly published Cuban authors, the volume examines the lives of Afrocubanas from the late nineteenth century to the present. The volume's contributors collect and interrogate the voices of black Cuban women and the political, cultural, social, and ideological contributions they have made to the history of their nation. One of the unique qualities of Afrocubanas is that the text is the product of a grassroots community working group in Havana. A number of antiracist organizations emerged to fight racial inequality in light of Cuba's new economic challenges after the fall of its chief trading partner, the Soviet Union in 1991. But, the Afrocubanas Project (founded in the mid-2000s) is one of the few groups that challenges racism and sexism together. The members of the Afrocubanas Project hail from a variety of professions, ages, and sexual orientations. They share a collective interest in challenging negative stereotypes about black women. This volume merges their activism and scholarship to offer a counter discourse to existing narratives about black women in Cuba while also creating and disseminating new knowledge about Afrocubanas. There is no other published work in English devoted to analyzing the political and intellectual dimensions of black Cuban women's thought across the island's history. This text is essential reading for scholars and students of Africana Studies, Afro-Latin American Studies, Caribbean history, and courses focusing on black women in the Atlantic region. --Odette Casamayor-Cisneros, Associate Professor of Romance Languages, University of Pennsylvania Acknowledgments Editor’s Acknowledgments Editor’s Introduction Translator’s Note Prologue Introduction PART ONE: History 1 Lawsuits by Slave Women in Nineteenth-Century Cuba Digna Castañeda Fuertes 2 Reconstructing Ex-Slave Belén Álvarez’s Story Oilda Hevia Lanier 3 Women “of Color” in Santiaguera Colonial Society: A Commentary María Cristina Hierrezuelo PART TWO: Thought 4 Women of Minerva María del Carmen Barcia Zequeira 5 Gratitude: To My Friends and Colleagues of the Journal Minerva Úrsula Coimbra de Valverde 6 Black Voices in Favor of the Independent Party of Color Carmen Piedra 7 Our Ethnic Values Consuelo Serra 8 What We Are Inocencía Silveira 9 The Black Cuban Woman Gerardo del Valle 10 The Black Cuban Women and Culture Catalina Pozo Gato 11 Black Intelligence Arabella Oña Gómez 12 Women in Santeria or Regla Ocha: Gender, Myths, and Reality Daisy Rubiera Castillo 13 Gender and Raciality: An Obligatory Reflection in Contemporary Cuba Yulexis Almeida Junco 14 On Afrocubana Stereotypes: Construction and Deconstruction of Myths María Ileana Faguaga Iglesias 15 Proposing an Inclusive and Nonsexist Gaze: Mulata Women, a Profane Invention? Onelia Chaveco Chaveco 16 Hairs Carmen González Chacón 17 Passing for a White Woman Sandra del Valle Casals 18 The Revolution Made Blacks into People Yusimí Rodríguez López 19 Human Race? Ah . . . It Had to Be! Yohamna Depestre Corcho 20 A Room of Our Own for Black Cuban Women Yesenia Selier Crespo PART THREE: Cultural Practices21 Oriki for Elder Black Women of the Past Georgina Herrera Cárdenas 22 The Black Female Imaginary in Cuba Aymée Rivera Pérez 23 Contradictory Binaries in Nancy Morejón’s Octubre Imprescindible and Cuaderno de GranadaLourdes Martínez Echazábal 24 In Memory of Excilia Coralia de las Mercedes Hernández Herrera 25 The Thick Skin of Teresa Cárdenas Leandro Estupiñán Zaldívar 26 El Negrito and the Mulata in the Vortex of Nationality Inés María Martiatu Terry 27 Popular Theater and Collective Resistance Fátima de la Caridad Patterson 28 Catalina Berroa, the Audacious Trinidadian: First Female Composer of “Cultured” Music in the Nineteenth Century Isabel González Sauto 29 The Marathon Exists for Both Men and Women Edelvis López Zaldívar 30 Making One’s Dreams Come True Is Not the Same as Dreaming María Elena Mendiola 31 The Contributions of Sara Gómez Sandra Álvarez Ramírez 32 Belkis Ayón Manso, Between Heterogeneous Sensibilities Lázara Menéndez Vásquez 33 Black Women in Sports Irene Esther Ruiz Narváez 34 A Lexical Semantical Analysis on the Discourse of Women in Cuban Rap Yanelys Abreu Babi and Anette Jiménez Marata Index About the Editor and Translator About the Authors