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Managing Tourist Hearts: Love, Money and Ambiguity in Relationships Between Cuban Women and Foreign Men by Anne-Mette Groth

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Managing Tourist Hearts: Love, Money and Ambiguity in Relationships Between Cuban Women and Foreign Men by Anne-Mette Groth Managing Tourist Hearts: Love, Money and Ambiguity in Relationships between Cuban Women and Foreign Men by Anne-Mette Groth Hermansen B.A., University of Copenhagen, 2006 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Anthropology Anne-Mette Groth Hermansen, 2010 University of Victoria All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without the permission of the author. ii Supervisory Committee Managing Tourist Hearts: Love, Money and Ambiguity in Relationships between Cuban Women and Foreign Men by Anne-Mette Groth Hermansen B.A., University of Copenhagen, 2006 Supervisory Committee Dr. Hülya Demirdirek, Department of Anthropology Supervisor Dr. Margo Matwychuk, Department of Anthropology Departmental Member Dr. Annalee Lepp, Department of Women’s Studies Outside Member iii Abstract Supervisory Committee Dr. Hülya Demirdirek, Department of Anthropology Supervisor Dr. Margo Matwychuk, Department of Anthropology Departmental Member Dr. Annalee Lepp, Department of Women’s Studies Outside Member As a consequence of Cuba’s severe mid-1990s economic crisis and the government’s attempt to remedy it by investing in the tourism sector, a new interactional space has opened up, providing Cubans with the opportunity to form economically advantageous relationships with foreigners. This thesis contributes to the anthropological understanding of the lifeworlds of Cuban women who engage in relationships with foreign men that are sexualized and commercialized to various degrees. These touristic encounters are morally and ideologically contested in late socialist Cuba. They are also characterized by an ambiguous tension, as the women have to manage foreign men’s expectations regarding exchanges of love and money. Based on six months of fieldwork in Havana, I examine the components and developments of such relationships and discuss the women’s particular role. I highlight their agency as they capitalize on touristic desires and fantasies of the exotic and erotic Caribbean Other, simultaneously reproducing a system of sexualized, racialized and gendered inequalities. Through a discussion of the methodologies employed in the research, I question the analytical use of empirical categories in anthropological analysis. I argue that emic categories applied to relationships between Cuban women and foreign men are political and normative markers of social statuses, but are not valid analytical units. iv Table of Contents Supervisory Committee ................................................................................................................ii Abstract.........................................................................................................................................iii Table of Contents .........................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgments.........................................................................................................................vi Dedication ....................................................................................................................................vii Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 A Revolution Within The Revolution? ....................................................................................... 4 The Special Period in Times of Peace......................................................................................... 8 La Jinetera – A Prominent Social Figure in Contemporary Cuba............................................ 11 Research Questions ................................................................................................................... 13 Locating the Field...................................................................................................................... 15 Outline of the Thesis ................................................................................................................. 16 Chapter I: Methodology and Fieldwork ................................................................................... 19 How Anthropologists Know...................................................................................................... 20 Being a Stranger: My Position in the Field............................................................................... 24 Informants ................................................................................................................................. 27 Building Rapport....................................................................................................................... 31 Recording Data from Daily Activities ...................................................................................... 33 Doing Interviews....................................................................................................................... 36 Back From the Field: Data Analysis ......................................................................................... 37 Learning Through the Body ...................................................................................................... 39 Ethical Obstructions .................................................................................................................. 41 Chapter II: Discourses on Jineterismo ...................................................................................... 45 Research on Race and Desire in the Caribbean......................................................................... 45 Jineterismo in Cuba................................................................................................................... 49 People as Categories.................................................................................................................. 60 Chapter III: Managing Tourist Hearts: Valentina’s Story..................................................... 66 High Expectations ..................................................................................................................... 68 Emergent Themes...................................................................................................................... 81 Chapter IV: Notions of Love and Reciprocity in a Cuban Context ....................................... 85 Por Amor or Por Interés?.......................................................................................................... 87 Contextualizing Love ................................................................................................................ 89 Un Hombre Para Resolver Tu Problema: Every Woman Needs a Man to Solve Her Problems.................................................................................................................................... 92 Implications of Cultural Classifiers........................................................................................... 95 Love is Just One Side of the Coin........................................................................................... 100 Love and Crisis........................................................................................................................ 103 For Love and For Money ........................................................................................................ 106 Chapter V: Fantasy Island ....................................................................................................... 110 The Racialized Tourist Gaze ................................................................................................... 112 Constructing Desire in Casa de la Música.............................................................................. 117 A “Typical” Night in Casa de la Música ................................................................................ 121 v Searching for Spectacle........................................................................................................... 123 Cuban Women’s Window of Opportunity: Desires for Difference ........................................ 126 Revalidating Fantasy as “Dreamt Reality”.............................................................................. 130 Chapter VI: Conclusions .......................................................................................................... 134 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 139 Appendix: Sample Interview Questions.................................................................................. 155 vi Acknowledgments I would like to acknowledge the tremendous support of my supervisor, Dr. Hülya Demirdirek. Her intellectual guidance has pushed my anthropological thinking to higher levels throughout my time at the University of Victoria and made the process of writing a rewarding experience. Without her genuine care for my well being during fieldwork, and in the final stages of writing, I am not sure I would have finished with my sanity intact. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. Margo Matwychuk and Dr. Annalee Lepp for their help towards the completion of this thesis. Their insightful comments enhanced the quality of my work greatly. In preparing my fieldwork, I received valuable advice from a number of scholars with
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