TRANSNATIONAL LANDSCAPES and the CUBAN DIASPORA By
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
TRANSNATIONAL LANDSCAPES AND THE CUBAN DIASPORA by JENNA ELIZABETH ANDREWS-SWANN (Under the Direction of Virginia D. Nazarea) ABSTRACT This study explores the multiple meanings of landscape and the creation of place within the Cuban Diaspora. Landscape encompasses not only the external physical environment or a particular geographical space, but the concept also represents collections of personal experiences with, and memories linked to, various pieces of the physical environment. Diaspora is an association that is not restricted to a geographical place but formed by cultural nationalism shared by members of a transnational community. The research sites in this study are Moultrie, Georgia, and Miami, Florida. These sites were selected to represent some of the diversity (e.g. rural/urban, established/newly arrived) inherent in the Cuban Diaspora. In light of current scholarship on these themes and the issues facing members of the Cuban Diaspora today, the principal questions addressed in this study are: How are landscapes (re)created and given meaning at locations in the Cuban Diaspora? and How does the context of migration or exile affect the (re)creation of landscapes? To address the research questions, an integrated set of mixed ethnographic methods comprised of participant observation, interviews, life history collection, cognitive mapping, and archival research was used. Results show that the manner in which members of the Cuban Diaspora in the United States left Cuba indeed impacts their relationship with the island and how they experience Cubanidad , or Cubanness. Based on the data collected, many members of the Diaspora who were jailed or otherwise persecuted in Cuba tend to shy away from addressing volatile issues, such as Cuban politics or religion, and choose instead to (re)create a private sense of Cubanidad. Others, who left the island under less weighty circumstances, may more openly express their version of Cubanidad. While the former situation tends to confine Cubanidad to the home and to religious spaces, the latter leads to the (re)creation of a broader, more public Cuban landscape, replete with architecture, businesses, language, food, music, and art that combine to reflect a collective sense of Cubanidad and a more highly visible version of Cuban identity in the U.S. The goal of the dissertation is to contribute a new element to current anthropological research on the transnational experience by considering people’s connections to landscapes. Landscape is a particularly useful concept for studying the ways transnationalism is embodied as it represents a highly personalized version of, and interaction with, one’s surroundings, including natural and built environments as well as the memories attached to those. The Cuban diaspora in the U.S. represents an especially interesting setting for research on transnationalism since the U.S. has only recently begun to relax its long-standing travel restrictions that limit the frequency and duration of émigré’s return visits to the island, as well as Cuban residents’ visits to the U.S. Because of these restrictions, transnationalism, and membership in the Diaspora community more generally, has been enacted without frequent access to the home landscape. Even with intermittent access, many members of the Cuban diaspora refuse to claim contemporary Cuba as a homeplace because the island they remember has ceased to exist under Fidel Castro’s control. INDEX WORDS: Transnationalism, Landscape, Immigration, Exile, Sense of Place, Memory, Nostalgia, Cuba and Cuban Diaspora TRANSNATIONAL LANDSCAPES AND THE CUBAN DIASPORA by JENNA ELIZABETH ANDREWS-SWANN BA, University of Michigan, 2003 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2010 © 2010 Jenna Elizabeth Andrews-Swann All Rights Reserved TRANSNATIONAL LANDSCAPES AND THE CUBAN DIASPORA by JENNA ELIZABETH ANDREWS-SWANN Major Professor: Virginia D. Nazarea Committee: J. Peter Brosius Reinaldo L. Román Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia August, 2010 DEDICATION To my husband, Chris Swann, and to my parents, Marge and Vince Andrews, for their unending support and love. In memory of Dr. Bob Rhoades, who contributed his immense expertise and insight. He remains an inspiration. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful for the support of my committee, especially Drs. Virginia Nazarea and Bob Rhoades, who stuck with me through the ups and downs of graduate school and a project that wouldn’t stay put. They have been inspirational mentors, teachers, and friends. And I would not have been able to undertake this work without the additional assistance of Dr. J. Peter Brosius and Dr. Reinaldo Román, who have lent more support and guidance than they know throughout this long process. The research was also supported in part by the University of Georgia Graduate School Dean’s Award in the Arts and Humanities, the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts Graduate Student Research and Performance Grant, the Melissa Hague Field Studies Award, an Ethnographic Research Training Award (sponsored by the University of Georgia and the National Science Foundation), and a Tinker Foundation Travel Grant for Graduate Research. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1 Statement of the Problem .........................................................................................1 A Brief History of the Cuban Diaspora ...................................................................8 Description of the Research Sites ..........................................................................16 Research Methodology ..........................................................................................22 Organization of the Dissertation ............................................................................26 2 CREATING TRANSNATIONAL LANDSCAPES: A COLLECTION OF THEORIES ..................................................................................................................29 Introduction ............................................................................................................29 Transnationalism and the Creation of Diaspora.....................................................30 Social and Environmental Landscapes ..................................................................39 Memory and Nostalgia ...........................................................................................49 3 CUBAN EXILES IN THE UNITED STATES: AN OVERVIEW .............................55 Introduction ............................................................................................................55 Reasons for Leaving ..............................................................................................60 vi Stories of Resettlement ..........................................................................................66 Reconstructing Cuban Landscapes in the American South ...................................71 4 CUBAN LANDSCAPES IN MIAMI, FLORIDA ......................................................84 Introduction ............................................................................................................84 Little Havana ..........................................................................................................89 CubaNostalgia .......................................................................................................97 Vignettes from Cuban Miami ..............................................................................104 Cigars, Dominoes, and Nostalgia : Cubanidad in the Public Sphere ...................119 5 CUBAN LANDSCAPES IN MOULTRIE, GEORGIA ............................................122 Introduction ..........................................................................................................122 Ethnicity, Status, and Language...........................................................................127 Mapping Cuban Landscapes in Moultrie .............................................................129 Vignettes from Cuban Moultrie ...........................................................................139 Cafecitos , Puerco Asado , y Baby Showers: Cubanidad in the Private Sphere....147 6 CUBANIDAD IN THE UNITED STATES AND THE CREATION OF A TRANSNATIONAL LANDSCAPE ........................................................................150 Introduction ..........................................................................................................150 Conclusions ..........................................................................................................160 Implications of the Research ................................................................................164 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................171 APPENDIX KEY RESEARCH