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©2012 Elena Valdez ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2012 Elena Valdez ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERVENCIONES EN LAS CIUDADES DEL DESEO: VOCES SEXUADAS DE LA NACIÓN EN LA NARRATIVA CONTEMPORÁNEA DEL CARIBE HISPANO by ELENA VALDEZ A Dissertation submitted to the Graduate School-New Brunswick Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Program in Spanish written under the direction of Professor Ben. Sifuentes-Jáuregui and approved by ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ New Brunswick, New Jersey May, 2012 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION INTERVENCIONES EN LAS CIUDADES DEL DESEO: VOCES SEXUADAS DE LA NACIÓN EN LA NARRATIVA CONTEMPORÁNEA DEL CARIBE HISPANO By ELENA VALDEZ Dissertation Director: Professor Ben Sifuentes-Jáuregui This dissertation explores some of the strategies used to represent multiple intersections of gender, sexuality and urban space in contemporary narratives from the Hispanic Caribbean (Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico) produced after 2000. An analysis of several contemporary novels illustrates how connections to sexuality and urban space are established a short time after significant political changes on each island, thereby privileging the queer subjects as main spokespersons of the nation in the beginning of the third millennium. The theoretical framework of my dissertation combines Cultural and Urban Studies, Gender and Queer Theory. On the one hand, this study includes the concept of the lettered city proposed by Ángel Rama as a traditional perception of urban space in Latin America; Michel Foucault’s analysis of space and its relation to power; and the interaction of strategies and tactics proposed by Michel de Certeau. On the other hand, this study implements José Quiroga´s view of sexuality as intervention; Yolanda Martínez San-Miguel’s neologism of ambisexual which refers to identities that oscillate ii between various sexual identifications without assuming any as definitive; and Arnaldo Cruz-Malavé’s queer subject as an abject excluded from national discourse. The first chapter of my dissertation focuses on the transformation of a queer subject from an abject to a central character, one who outlines a new national project for Cuba in Contrabando de sombras (2002) by Antonio José Ponte. Chapter two shows how constant relocations within urban space exemplify a crisis of hegemonic masculinity under Trujillo’s totalitarian regime in La estrategia de Chochueca (2000) by Rita Indiana Hernández and El hombre triángulo (2005) by Rey Emmanuel Andújar. Chapter three illustrates how the Puerto Rican queer experience on the island and its diaspora marks the concept of sexuality as something movable and unfixed in No quiero quedarme sola y vacía (2006) by Ángel Lozada and Conversaciones con Aurelia (2007) by Daniel Torres. My fourth and last chapter reevaluates all these texts from the perspective of sex tourism to show how queer sexuality and the nation are redefined in the context of tourism and globalization. iii AGRADECIMIENTOS Quiero agradecer el apoyo y la participación de numerosas personas en la investigación y la realización de esta tesis. Quiero empezar por expresar mi agradecimiento incalculable a Ben Sifuentes-Jáuregui por toda su ayuda y apoyo incondicional en todo el proceso de definición del tema, investigación y escritura del texto, y por mucho más. Su generosidad, curiosidad intelectual y entusiasmo me ayudaron a encontrar mi voz. Quiero agradecer la ayuda entusiasta de Yolanda Martínez- San Miguel, Marcy Schwartz y Camilla Stevens quienes me dieron numerosos comentarios valiosos, observaciones y pistas para mi investigación. Su rigor crítico y la devoción por el trabajo intelectual han sido contagiosos. Gracias a los profesores y compañeros del Departamento de Español y Portugués de Rutgers y del Departamento de Lenguas Modernas de Swarthmore College. Doy gracias a la excelente lectora Olga Sendra Ferrer. Hubiera sido imposible terminar esta tesis sin ayuda de Pilar Martínez Quiroga quien literalmente ha hecho este viaje conmigo y quien acogió este proyecto con entusiasmo y contribuyó con su lectura y preguntas. Especial es mi agradecimiento a Mia Romano y Brian Johnson quienes me ayudaron a traducir lo intraducible. Aprecio el apoyo académico y financiero otorgado por la Escuela de Estudios Graduados de Rutgers-New Brunswick, el Departamento de Español y Portugués. Del mismo modo, quisiera agradecer el respaldo que recibí del CLAS-Rutgers y de la NeMLA, que me concedieron becas para iniciar y continuar mi investigación de la República Dominicana. A pesar de la distancia, crucial han sido el apoyo y cariño de mis padres y mi hermana. A Sasha Bostick, Priscila and Mac Wilson. A mi familia dominicana que me ha regalado una perspectiva única y me facilitó mis primeros encuentros con el Caribe. Un lugar iv singular en estos agradecimientos está reservado para Francisco quien siempre me ha brindado mucho apoyo y quien ha viajado conmigo a los lugares “inapropiados”. Por último, quisiera agradecer a mi hijo Daniel que me ayudó a no pensar en esta tesis todo el tiempo. v ÍNDICE Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Agradecimientos ................................................................................................................ iv Índice.................................................................................................................................. vi Introducción ........................................................................................................................ 1 Capítulo 1: Sujeto cubano en ruinas y heterotopías sexualizadas..................................... 28 1.1. Heterotopías concéntricas .............................................................................. 31 1.2. Cartografías corporales e históricas ............................................................... 49 1.3. Las ruinas como cicatrices urbanas................................................................ 59 1.4. Instituciones oficiales y familiares en ruina................................................... 65 1.5. La recuperación de la identidad homosexual de Vladimir ............................. 74 Capítulo 2: Desafío al discurso dominante y las divagaciones del nuevo sujeto nacional dominicano ........................................................................................................................ 83 1. El hombre triángulo ...................................................................................................... 86 1.1. La masculinidad hegemónica en crisis y las familias fracasadas .................. 87 1.2. Dobles y máscaras: la homosexualidad de Pérez ........................................... 96 1.3. Los cuerpos vulnerables y el destape simbólico .......................................... 102 1.4. Espacios inapropiados como sitios de transgresión sexual .......................... 106 1.5. La triangulación y la ruptura con el discurso dominante ............................. 112 2. La estrategia de Chochueca........................................................................................ 115 2.1. La nueva flâneuse dominicana ..................................................................... 116 2.2. Espacios y superficies permeables ............................................................... 125 vi Capítulo 3: Polifonías sexuales: la ambigüedad sexual y política en la narrativa contemporánea de Puerto Rico ....................................................................................... 136 1. Conversaciones con Aurelia ....................................................................................... 139 1.1. Machos puertorriqueños como travestis ...................................................... 140 1.2. Los personajes trans viran al macho puertorriqueño ................................... 149 1.3. Cartografías sexuales de San Juan ............................................................... 158 2. No quiero quedarme sola y vacía ............................................................................... 165 2.1. Las colonialidades del poder en el espacio urbano neoyorquino ................. 168 2.2. Dobles exclusiones y deseos contradictorios ............................................... 174 2.3. Vacíos multifacéticos, cuerpos enfermos y el “problema del status” .......... 180 Capítulo 4: Romances transnacionales: el turismo sexual en el Caribe hispano ............ 194 4.1. Los romances cabalgantes: el turismo sexual en Cuba ................................ 198 4.2. Los romances ilusorios: la industria placentera y el desafío a la masculinidad dominicana .......................................................................................................... 210 4.3. Los romances travestidos: La redefinición de la ambigüedad política de Puerto Rico en el contexto sexo-turístico ........................................................... 220 Conclusión ...................................................................................................................... 233 Bibliografía ..................................................................................................................... 239 Vita ................................................................................................................................. 264 vii 1 INTRODUCCIÓN. De la ciudad letrada
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