Kinship, Love and Life Cycle in Contemporary Havana, Cuba
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“To Not Die Alone” KINSHIP, LOVE AND LIFE CYCLE IN CONTEMPORARY HAVANA, CUBA HEIDI HÄRKÖNEN Research Series in Anthropology University of Helsinki Academic Dissertation Research Series in Anthropology University of Helsinki, Finland Distributed by Unigrafia P.O. Box 4 (Vuorikatu 3 A) 00014 University of Helsinki Fax. +358-9-7010 2370 http://www.unigrafia.fi ISNN 1458-3186 ISBN 978-952-10-9822-2 (paperback) ISBN 978-952-10-9823-9 (PDF) Unigrafia 2014 To my family – in Havana and Helsinki Contents List of Illustrations viii Acknowledgments ix 1. Introduction: Bodies, Love, and Life in Urban Havana Introduction 1 Socialist Efforts to Modernise Sexuality 3 Post-Soviet Havana 8 Negotiating Intimacy, Money, and Reciprocity 12 Space and Housing 15 Body, Beauty, and Race 18 Love, Passion, and Emotions 22 Gendered Forms of Agency 25 Conclusion 29 2. Kinship as an Idiom for Social Relations Introduction 34 Kinship and the Life Cycle 35 Reciprocity and the Dialectics of Care 39 Love, Reproductive Cycle, and Personhood 42 Fieldwork in Havana 45 Conclusion 54 3. Having a Child is Worth the Trouble: Fertility and Reproduction Introduction 56 Deciding over Pregnancy: When to Have a Child? 58 “Not Planning It” 61 Love 62 “Having the Conditions”: Money and Housing 64 State Involvement in Decisions over Pregnancy 66 Infertility 68 Waiting for a New-Born: Expectations Regarding a Baby 71 Body and Looks 71 Baby’s Gender 73 Notions of Kinship: Blood, Nurture, and Biogenetic Ties 74 Nurture as Female Care 76 Material Contributions as Male Care: “A Child Makes the Father” 78 State Care: Nurture and Material 83 After Birth: Catholic Baptism 88 Godparents 91 Naming 96 Conclusion 99 4. Becoming a Woman: Quince as a Moment of Female Sexuality Introduction 102 La Fiesta de los Quince 102 Mother-Daughter Relation 110 Father-Daughter Relation 111 Marginal Relations in Quince: Patrilateral and Affinal Bonds 114 Quince as Reproduction and Producing Fertility 115 Quince’s History and Relationship with the Socialist State 117 Conclusion 118 5. Nobody Likes Sleeping Alone: Love, Sexuality, and Adult Gender Relations Introduction 120 Gendered Attractiveness 122 Moral Economies of Gendered Care: Negotiating Love through Food, Gifts, and Labour 129 Respect, Control, and Jealousy 133 The Break-Up of Love: Failing Reciprocal Care 137 Sexual Desire and Infidelity 141 Gendered Violence 145 State Discourse on Love and Sexuality 148 Breaking Up: Harming Sociability 150 “I Have No Luck in Love”: A Woman Alone 152 Heterosexuality and Homosexuality 153 Conclusion 158 6. Reciprocating Care: Old Age, Funerals, and Death Introduction 162 Old Age and the State 163 Old Age as the Peak of Woman’s Authority 165 Reintegrating a Father to the Kinship Structure at Old Age 167 Historical Context of Funerals 172 Wake: Keeping Company to the Deceased 173 Burial: Catholic Last Rites 177 Burial Site: Origins and Unity 180 Second Burial: Creating Family Continuity 184 Death as Connection 187 Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day 187 Misa de los Difuntos and Spirits 188 Inheritance 192 Ancestors: Rebirth and Reincarnation 196 Church and State: Catholic Life Cycle Rituals 198 Conclusion 200 7. The State as Family Introduction 203 The State and the Dialectics of Care 204 Neighbours as Family: “El vecino es la familia más cercana” 212 Family Metaphors and the Revolution’s Culture of Life 215 State Rituals as Family Rituals 223 Fidel as Father of the Nation and Present Absence 226 Conclusion 230 Conclusion: Kinship, Love, and Time 232 Bibliography 240 vii List of Illustrations 1. Managing everyday life in Centro Habana. 2. The author interviewing a quinceañera at her party. 3. Preparing for the arrival of a newborn: a closet full of dresses waiting for a baby girl. 4. A mother and baby at a Catholic baptism. 5. A quince cake. 6. A quinceañera posing in a photo shoot. 7. Two quinceañeras in a photo shoot in Habana Vieja. 8. Young men enjoying a night out. 9. A recent burial site at the Colon cemetery. 10. A man’s gravesite: “Papi, we remember you with love. Your spouse and daughter.” 11. Ta’ José, a miraculous muerto: “Ta’ José, I thank you for granting me what I asked for and fulfilling my dream.” 12. A poster on the street in Vedado: “…The Plan Bush will deprive you of the kiss in the morning, of the hug after school, and of the constantly cheeky eyes.” 13. Waiting for the parade’s arrival at the children’s carnival. 14. The First of May parade turned into a fiesta. 15. A cartel on a porch around Fidel Castro’s birthday: “Congratulations, dad!” All photographs by Heidi Härkönen. viii Acknowledgments Over the years, numerous people and institutions have helped me in conducting this research. I want to thank the several grant givers who have made this study possible by providing financial support: most importantly, the Finnish Cultural Foundation that funded my research for three years. I want to thank the Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund, the Emil Aaltonen Foundation, the Ella and Georg Ehrnrooth Foundation, the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters Eino Jutikkala Fund, the Oskar Öflund Foundation, and the Finnish Concordia Foundation for their financial support. I want to thank my supervisor Professor Karen Armstrong, who for a long time has shaped my understanding of anthropology and provided valuable theoretical insights, many of which are inherent in the makeup of this book. I am truly grateful for all of her help. Over the years, many other people in the Helsinki Anthropology Department have helped me by writing references for grant applications and maintaining an interest in my research, I want to thank in particular lecturer, docent Timo Kaartinen and Professor Emeritus Jukka Siikala. Professor Sarah Green has provided a sympathetic ear, great advice and practical assistance during the final stages of this project, for which I am grateful. I also want to thank the participants in the Helsinki anthropology research seminar for their feedback and comments over the course of this project. The anthropology department secretary, Arto Sarla has been a constant source of extremely valuable practical help. I want to thank Doctor Antti Leppänen who provided practical help with the completion of the first version of this manuscript. Thanks also to Doctor Matti Eräsaari and Doctor Maarit Forde for intellectual support over the years. In addition, I want to give a heartfelt thanks to Professor Niko Besnier from the University of Amsterdam, who over the last 12 months has been incredibly supportive in helping me to organise my post-doctoral life. During this project, I had the opportunity to spend a semester as a visiting research scholar at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center. I want to thank the CUNY Anthropology department, especially Professor Katherine Verdery and Distinguished Lecturer Julie Skurski, without whose support the visit would not have been possible. Writing has never felt as easy anywhere as in the CUNY Graduate Center. Numerous academics lent me their time and energy in New York and I am truly grateful to each one of them. My pre-examiners, Professor Kevin Birth from the CUNY Queens College and Martin Holbraad, the University College London Reader in Anthropology, gave ix valuable comments on the manuscript and I have done my best to incorporate their well thought out and insightful suggestions into this book. I also want to thank Doctor Simo Määttä who meticulously proofread and language checked my entire manuscript. All the mistakes are of course, my own. Over this project, I have also had the chance to receive feedback on my research at various conferences. This has been particularly valuable, allowing me to discuss my work with several Cuba and Latin America specialists. Many people have inspired my thinking with insightful remarks, I am grateful for their input. During my fieldwork in Havana, numerous people and institutions have helped me by providing access to libraries, state instructions and rituals, as well as providing insights about life, love and death in contemporary Cuba. I want to thank you all – this research would have been impossible without you. I want to thank my family in Helsinki. Throughout this project, my mother Raija Härkönen has provided me with care and support in all its forms. I want to thank her for instilling in me a curiosity towards the world and a thirst for knowledge from very early on. I also want to thank my godmothers for nurturing my attraction for faraway places ever since I was a child. My partner, Paul Dodson had the misfortune of appearing in my life on the exact day I was accepted as a doctoral student to the University of Helsinki and this project began. He has stood by me throughout, as the complexities, problems and dramas of this research have unfolded. He also shared my joys over the years. He has fed me, comforted me and paid the bills when things have been particularly tight. He has managed to handle living his life around the globe in strange places that were not of his choosing. Paul has also helped me enormously with checking my English and with the layout of this book. I am truly grateful for his support, without which the completion of this book would have been a lot more difficult. Over the years, Paul’s family in Australia has also provided timely emotional support. In addition, I would also like to thank Hash Varsani for providing practical help with the layout of this book. Finally and most importantly, I want to thank all the Cubans who over the years have so generously allowed me to participate in their lives. In particular, I want to thank my Cuban family, without whom none of this research would have been possible.