UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title (Re) framing the nation : the Afro -Cuban challenge to Black and Latino struggles for American identity Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5pb0h077 Author Gosin, Monika Publication Date 2009 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO (Re) Framing the Nation: The Afro-Cuban Challenge to Black and Latino Struggles for American Identity A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the Requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnic Studies by Monika Gosin Committee in charge: Professor Ana Celia Zentella, Chair Professor Charles Briggs Professor Raúl Fernández Professor Daniel Hallin Professor Sara Johnson Professor Jane Rhodes 2009 Copyright Monika Gosin, 2009 All rights reserved. The dissertation of Monika Gosin is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ Chair University of California, San Diego 2009 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page………………………………………………………………………....…iii Table of Contents………….…………………………………………………....………...iv List of Graphs and Tables….……………………………………………...………….…...v Acknowledgements………………………………………………………...……..………vi Abstract of the Dissertation….…………………………………………………..…...….vii Vita…..…………………………………………………………………………..….......viii Introduction…………………………..……………………….………………..………….1 Chapter I Blackness and Constructions of Proper Citizenship: The 1980 Mariel Exodus in El Herald ……………………………………………………………………...48 Chapter II And Justice for All? Miami’s Leading African American Press on the 1980 Mariel Exodus…………………………………………………………………………………..112 Chapter III The Worthy Suffering versus Unworthy Immigrant: Framing the Balsero Crisis in El Nuevo Herald and the Miami Times ………………………………………………152 Chapter IV Black and “Other”: Afro-Cubans Negotiating Identity in the United States.…………..211 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...267 Appendix………………………………………………………………...……...….…...294 Bibliography…………………………………….………………………...……………296 iv LIST OF GRAPHS AND TABLES Graph 1.1: El Herald , Prominent Themes ……………………………………...………68 Graph 1.2: El Herald , Criminality Theme ……………………………………..………79 Graph 2.1: Population of the Miami metropolitan area, 1980…………………………122 Table 3.1: Educational attainment of Cuban immigrants………………...……...…….178 Table 4.1: Miami Participants…………………………..………………...……...…….294 Table 4.2: Los Angeles Participants……………………………………...……...…….295 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation was indeed a collective effort, though all errors herein are mine. The research was supported by grants and fellowships from the UC-CUBA Academic Initiative; California Cultures in Comparative Perspective, (UCSD); the UCSD Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity (CSRE); and a dissertation-year fellowship awarded by the Center for Citizenship, Race and Ethnicity Studies (CREST), at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York. So many people generously supported me in this journey; I can only name a few here. Without the encouragement of Dr. Arturo Aldama, I may never have taken this path to pursue a PhD in Ethnic Studies, and I am forever indebted. It was an honor to work with the esteemed scholars on my committee. I thank Charles Briggs and Daniel Hallin for their scholarly expertise and patient guidance. Sara Johnson’s wisdom and skillful direction regarding the practical aspects of writing was immensely valuable. I am obliged to Raúl Fernández for his constructive advice regarding interview methodology and I value his infectious enthusiasm for my success. Jane Rhodes has seen me through all the various phases of my PhD career, and I am grateful for her continued support. I owe the utmost respect and gratitude to my chair, Ana Celia Zentella, who was truly a committed teacher and guided me through the murky waters to hone my ideas. By observing her dedication to her many students and to the community at large, I have learned so much about the type of scholar that many of us could only hope to become. I am humbled by the generosity of the anonymous interviewees who befriended me, shared their lives, and allowed me to hear their stories, and I appreciate the kindness of those who helped put me in touch with them. I offer thanks to Mama and Bayunga Kialueka for taking me in whenever I needed to be in Miami, and Cousin Michelle Archie in Los Angeles. It is always wonderful to be with family and to know I have a true home when I am away from home. I could not have finished the writing for this project without the support of my friends and colleagues. Through their careful eyes, Joseph Jimenez, Tere Ceseña, Susan Silver, and my vi wonderfully intelligent sister Nirojah Gosin, came in and saved the day. On the off days, I was inspired to keep going by the success and example of my friends May Fu and Perlita Dicochea, who finished their own journeys to the doctorate a few years before me and have gone on to do great things. I cherish our many years of fun and friendship. To my cohort members Faye Caronan Chen, Tere Ceseña, Ashley Lucas, Theo Verinakis, Thuy Vo Dang, and extended cohort members, Cecilia Rivas, and Gina Opinaldo, it has been great knowing we can still depend on each other to share laughter and encouragement. I am especially grateful to Myrna García for being my phone buddy/ writing partner during my year on fellowship on the east coast and during her first year back home. Edwina Welch and the UCSD Cross Cultural Center provided me an invaluable and much needed sense of community. The graduate student life would have been dull without Erin Malone and Jennifer Dabu; I appreciate always having friends with whom I could go out salsa dancing! Special thanks is reserved for Tere Ceseña, who I met as we both began our doctorates in Ethnic Studies at UCSD and is not only a dedicated friend, but has truly become a sister. I could not have chosen a better traveling buddy for this journey. I treasure the love, care, and patience of Scott Wisniewski who, since I began this project, has always been there. Finally, I dedicate this dissertation to my family: to my wonderful parents who have fought and continue to fight the good fight, and who inspire me through their love to keep the faith. I give thanks to them, and to the One who makes all things possible. All my love to my younger brother and sister, who were my first (perhaps reluctant!) students, but have become two of my greatest teachers. vii VITA EDUCATION 2009 Doctor of Philosophy, Ethnic Studies University of California, San Diego 2004 Master of Arts, Ethnic Studies University of California, San Diego 1998 Master of Arts, Sociology Arizona State University 1995 Bachelor of Arts, Social Science and Spanish Literature University of California, Irvine RESEARCH POSITIONS 2002 Graduate Student Researcher for Dr. Jane Rhodes. Department of Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego. 1998-2000 Keepin’ it REAL Curriculum Coordinator and Researcher for the Drug Resistance Strategies Project, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona. 1996-1997 Graduate Student Researcher for Dr. Richard Nagasawa. Arizona State University, Department of Sociology, Tempe, Arizona. TEACHING POSITIONS 2009 Lecturer Department of Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego. 2008 Associate-In Department of Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego. 2007-2008 Adjunct Department of American Studies, The College of Saint Rose, Albany NY. 2006 Associate-In Department of Ethnic Studies, University of California, San Diego. viii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION (Re) Framing the Nation: The Afro-Cuban Challenge to Black and Latino Struggles for American Identity by Monika Gosin Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnic Studies University of California, San Diego, 2009 Professor Ana Celia Zentella, Chair This dissertation interrogates the complexity of late 20 th and early 21 st century racial projects, focusing on conflict and convergence among African Americans, Cuban exiles, and Afro-Cubans in the United States. A textual analysis of the African American Miami Times and the Spanish language El Herald/El Nuevo Herald during the 1980 Mariel exodus and 1994 Balsero crisis, reveals the concerns of Miami African Americans ix and Cubans related to issues of race, immigration, and national belonging. The dissertation argues that the racializing discourses found in the Miami Times , which painted Cuban immigrants as an economic threat, and discourses in the Herald, which affirmed the presumed inferiority of blackness and superiority of whiteness, reproduce the centrality of ideologies of exclusivity and white supremacy in the construction of the U.S. nation. These discourses rely on three principle racializing frames: the black/white frame, the morality framing of good and bad citizens, and the native/foreigner dichotomy. Despite often antagonistic attitudes between African Americans, exile Cubans, and newer Cuban immigrants, however, the findings expose a shared underlying critique of the continued disenfranchisement of people of color. The analysis of newspaper text is supplemented by an analysis of talk, i.e., in-depth interviews conducted with black Cubans from Miami and Los Angeles, in order