DOCSLIB.ORG

Transnational Networks and Nation-Building: the Protest of Barágua and the Transition from Plantation Societies to the Modern Nation-State in Cuba and the Americas

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Transnational Networks and Nation-Building: the Protest of Barágua and the Transition from Plantation Societies to the Modern Nation-State in Cuba and the Americas TRANSNATIONAL NETWORKS AND NATION-BUILDING: THE PROTEST OF BARÁGUA AND THE TRANSITION FROM PLANTATION SOCIETIES TO THE MODERN NATION-STATE IN CUBA AND THE AMERICAS BY ETHEL R. HAZARD DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology with a minor in Gender Relations in International Development in the Graduate College of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2012 Urbana, Illinois Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Arlene Torres, Chair Associate Professor Nils Jacobsen Associate Professor Andrew Orta Associate Professor Martin Manalansan Associate Professor Gale Summerfield ABSTRACT The formation of transnational ties, and the forging of transnational relationships between non-governmental organizations and politically marginalized groups, is often interpreted as a late twentieth century cultural phenomenon. This work challenges that supposition by examining the cultural practice of transnationalism during the last quarter of the nineteenth century in Cuba and other parts of the Americas. The historical process of nation-building, taken by a body of Cuban dissidents primarily from eastern Cuba, and their allies in the United States and the other islands of the Anglophone Caribbean, presents a new view of interpreting the rise of nationalist movements in the Americas. The practice of nation-building fostered by this group of social actors occurred culturally and historically alongside the emergence of a civil sector that included the growing importance of locally developed social institutions. The proliferation of political clubs, literary salons, and other civic organizations, analytically results in the reformulation of interdisciplinary questions regarding territorial belonging in the colonial, national, and imperial space of modern national and post-colonial territories in the American region. Expressions of locality and translocality are seen as critical markers of group and individual identity that problematicizes national belonging between and among economically, politically, and socially marginalized groups. Both the disciplines of history and cultural anthropology are better served by understanding the significance of migration and the creation of diasporic communities as resulting from nationalism as practiced during this period. Moreover, contemporary development policy that analyzes emergent civil sector institutional relationships and how these relationship impact gender, race, ethnicity, and economic identity transformations is also served. This dissertation utilizes the historical event, La Protesta de Barágua/The Protest of Barágua during the last quarter of the nineteenth century in Cuba as the organizing and analytical framework to examine the cultural complexity of nation-building as practiced through the creation of translocal relationships both individually and institutionally and the grievances articulated by within these marginalized communities and their institutional forms. The ethnohistorical lens that this specific event provides is one whereby, the experience of transition from plantation society to modern nation-state as experienced by marginalized groups such as Chinese migrant indentured laborers, poor and elite women, free people of color and slaves, is critically examined. This work does not seek to participate in “national-history” making, but instead gives insight into the consistent cultural flows of people and ideas within a dialogic chain of communication that was systemic and mutually influential. Hence, for these groups to gain greater political inclusion within the modern nation-state, a hemispheric process, articulated in political thoughts and actions, utilizing anti-colonial, nationalist, antislavery, and abolitionist political ideologies and rhetoric, was used by members of the dissident community in this work. Spanish colonial records, dissident political pamphlets, and a re-examination of secondary sources in Latin American and Caribbean history and cultural anthropology, each serve as the evidentiary basis for this work. Therefore, the hemispheric significance of La Protesta de Barágua/The Protest of Barágua, is interpreted as an articulation of not merely a culturally specific Cuban event, but within broader hemispheric struggles by other dissident groups that called for the immediate abolition of slavery as a critical step for creating equality among each of the constituent parts of the citizenry within the nation. ii DEDICATION For Carolyn and Olivia, who taught me how to read, think, and play. To Billie Parker, Ronald Mabone, Michel-Rolph Trouillot, and Barry Chevannes---Four knights, teachers, and intellectual guides who helped develop my character, values, and vision of a world that includes us all with dignity and respect. And to Lucille, whose unshakable faith in the possibilities that life brings, lit this path she instilled, created, and nurtured in me as a child, teenager, and adult. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Funding for this research project included fellowships and grants obtained from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Tinker Foundation. The Department of Anthropology Graduate Student Travel grant permitted an earlier version of chapter two to be presented at the Society for Caribbean Studies in Newcastle, England. Also, summer research travel grants provided by the department of anthropology permitted archival trips to Spain and Jamaica. I would like to thank Drs. Michael Coniff, Ivan Schulmann, and Richard Katula for selecting me to participate in the following two National Endowment for the Humanities Seminars, 1) Las Americas de José Martí/The Americas of Jose Martí at the University of South Florida in Tampa in 2002 and 2) The American Lyceum the Oratory of Idealism, Opportunity and Abolitionism in 2007, seminars that aided in the early conceptualization of this project. I would also like to acknowledge Dr. Louis Pérez, a presenter in the 2002 seminar whose talk, “The Martí Project Reconsidered,” inspired me to pursue the historical research that undergirds this project. I would like to acknowledge the assistance provided by Drs. Patrick Bryan, Neville Duncan, and Barry Chevannes at the University of the West Indies’ department of history, the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies, and the department of Sociology and Social Work, for their support and assistance while in Jamaica and after returning to complete course work at the University of Illinois. The quality of research in this work was augmented by the expertise of archivists and research librarians in Illinois, Spain, and New York. I would like to thank and acknowledge Nelly S. González, former head of the Latin American Library Services Unit at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Cristina González Martín, Technical Secretary General at the National Library in Madrid, and Troy Bell and Miriam Jimenez Román at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. I would like to thank every member of my thesis committee for being engaging scholars, kind people and generous teachers. Inside and outside of the classroom, each of them gave their full level best and urged me to seek my own. I could not have produced this without your guidance and assistance. Drs. Alejandro Lugo and William Kelleher’s instruction and support provided me with meaningful classes that developed my thinking. I would like to especially thank my dissertation chair and advisor, Dr. Arlene Torres along with Drs. Frances Rothstein, and Faye Harrison for consistent encouragement that led me to return to graduate school and finish. Arlene, I am honored to have become one of your students. I would also like to acknowledge the following faculty from the Johns Hopkins University for the role they played in my early intellectual development: Drs. Franklin Knight, Brackette F. Williams, Michel-Rolph Trouillot, Sidney Mintz, Donald Carter, David Harvey, Jack Greene, Beverly Silver, and David Scott. Graduate assistantships in the African American Studies and Research Program and the Women Gender and Global Perspectives Program provided me financial support while completing coursework at the University of Illinois. For this, I wish to acknowledge Drs. Sundiata Cha-Jua and Gale Summerfield executive directors of these units where I expanded my academic professionalization. Dr. Chris Fennell provided graduate assistantships for me during my final iv year of coursework and post-comprehensive exams while at the university. I would like to acknowledge the collegial support offered by affiliated faculty members in the African American Studies and Research Program while I was at the University of Illinois specifically, Drs. David Roediger, Jessica Millward, Erik McDuffie, and Barrington Edwards. I have been the beneficiary of an outstanding group of peers at both Johns Hopkins and at the University of Illinois. Drs. Mahua Sarkar, Prasad Kuduvalli, Christopher Powers, Bilgin Ayata, Indira Ravindran, Michael Dorsey, Bettina Ng’Weno, Espelensia Baptiste and Iveris Martínez were my intellectual community that shaped my early analytical development. Jennifer Shoaff, William Hope, Alyssa Garcia, Daniel Gutierrez, Brian Montes, Aidé Acosta, Cristobal Valencia, Stanley Thangaraj, and Donna White, were my peer-interlocutors in the department of anthropology. Chris Tan, Julie Williams, Batamaka Some, and Stefan Palmíe all worked to make our American Anthropology Association panel more like a workshop for developing our very preliminary
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Carta De Raúl a Los Médicos Que Combatieron El Ébola En África
    VIERNES 10 El hombre JULIO 2015 crece con el La Habana Año 57 de la Revolución trabajo que sale de EDICIÓN AÑO 51 ÚNICA No. 164 sus manos CIERRE: 11:00 P.M. 20 ctvs ÓRGANO OFICIAL DEL COMITÉ CENTRAL DEL PARTIDO COMUNISTA DE CUBA Carta de Raúl a los médicos que combatieron el Ébola en África La Habana, 8 de julio de 2015 Hoy nuestra medicina se encuentra “Año 57 de la Revolución” presente en 68 naciones con más de 50 mil profesionales de la Salud, realidad que sin- tetiza los genuinos valores que ha cultivado Queridos compañeros: la Revolución. La ayuda brindada por cada FOTO: RAÚL PUPO uno de los colaboradores del ejército de Luego de haber cumplido con la honrosa batas blancas se erige como un paradigma X CONGRESO DE LA UNIÓN DE JÓVENES COMUNISTAS misión que los llevó hasta África Occidental imperecedero. hace seis meses, incluso a riesgo de sus pro- pias vidas, para combatir el brote de Ébola Son significativos los resultados que que azotaba a ese continente, regresaron a lograron ustedes en la atención médica a los la Patria que los recibió con el mayor orgullo. afectados por la epidemia de Ébola, con más Casi a nuestras puertas de 400 vidas salvadas y una tasa de letali- En nombre del pueblo cubano y en el mío dad general de un 24,4%, lo cual es muestra Amaya Saborit Alfonso Girarán en torno a los nuevos escenarios en la propio, les trasmito un reconocimiento por de la preparación alcanzada, de la consa- defensa de la patria, el funcionamiento orgánico el heroico trabajo realizado como parte del gración y de la entrega al trabajo, aspectos Como un encuentro transformador, inclusi- y transformaciones de la organización y los Contingente Internacional “Henry Reeve”.
    [Show full text]
  • Uneasy Intimacies: Race, Family, and Property in Santiago De Cuba, 1803-1868 by Adriana Chira
    Uneasy Intimacies: Race, Family, and Property in Santiago de Cuba, 1803-1868 by Adriana Chira A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Anthropology and History) in the University of Michigan 2016 Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Jesse E. Hoffnung-Garskof, Co-Chair Professor Rebecca J. Scott, Co-Chair Associate Professor Paulina L. Alberto Professor Emerita Gillian Feeley-Harnik Professor Jean M. Hébrard, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales Professor Martha Jones To Paul ii Acknowledgments One of the great joys and privileges of being a historian is that researching and writing take us through many worlds, past and present, to which we become bound—ethically, intellectually, emotionally. Unfortunately, the acknowledgments section can be just a modest snippet of yearlong experiences and life-long commitments. Archivists and historians in Cuba and Spain offered extremely generous support at a time of severe economic challenges. In Havana, at the National Archive, I was privileged to get to meet and learn from Julio Vargas, Niurbis Ferrer, Jorge Macle, Silvio Facenda, Lindia Vera, and Berta Yaque. In Santiago, my research would not have been possible without the kindness, work, and enthusiasm of Maty Almaguer, Ana Maria Limonta, Yanet Pera Numa, María Antonia Reinoso, and Alfredo Sánchez. The directors of the two Cuban archives, Martha Ferriol, Milagros Villalón, and Zelma Corona, always welcomed me warmly and allowed me to begin my research promptly. My work on Cuba could have never started without my doctoral committee’s support. Rebecca Scott’s tireless commitment to graduate education nourished me every step of the way even when my self-doubts felt crippling.
    [Show full text]
  • 8-Randyinter:Maquetación 1.Qxd
    9 de junio Director Pelayo Terry Cuervo Redacción y Administración General Teléfono 7881-3333 hoy en la historia Subdirectores Oscar Sánchez Serra, Karina Marrón Suárez y Territorial, Plaza de la e-mail [email protected] González y Gustavo Becerra Estorino (a cargo de Revolución, La Habana, Cuba. Impreso en el Combinado 1955 Es asesinado en La Habana el combatiente revolucionario Granma Internacional). Código Postal 10699. Zona Postal La Poligráfico Granma Jorge Agostini Villasana. >> Subdirector administrativo Claudio A. Adams George Habana 6. Apartado Postal 6187 ISSN 0864-0424 1964 Infantes de marina yankis de la Base Naval de Guantánamo disparan contra las postas cubanas, hirien- www.granma.cu Titulares en tu móvil: envía SMS al 8100 con el texto granma do de gravedad a un soldado guardafronteras cubano. Mariana Grajales Cuello, memoria perpetua Entre los años 1923 y 1958 los cubanos rindieron homenaje de diferentes formas a esta heroína MSc. Yamila Vilorio Foubelo y María de Jesús Chávez Vilorio* como Las Marianas o Las Marianas de la Sierra. Fidel había convocado a una reunión del mando del Ejército, y aunque SANTIAGO DE CUBA.—El 18 de abril de 1923 partía de encontró el apoyo de varios combatientes, también halló fuer- Santiago de Cuba el cañonero cubano Baire, con destino a te oposición. Tuvo que recurrir a un recuento histórico de las Kingston, Jamaica, para buscar los restos de la noble matrona luchas de la mujer cubana, donde mencionó a Mariana Ma riana Grajales Cuello. A su regreso el 23 de abril de 1923, la Grajales, Ana Be tancourt y la propia Celia Sánchez.
    [Show full text]
  • Boletín Comisión Aponte #45 1/2016 UNEAC
    Boletín No.45 . Comisión José Antonio Aponte.UNEAC.2016 Subir SECCIONES Noticias PRIMER VIERNES DE CADA MES De la Comisión José Antonio Aponte (CJAP) MAKA CON FURÉ Evento Cultural- En Carolina del Norte se Identitario, en la Sala Villena de la presenta demanda contra UNEAC a las 4 p.m TE ESPERAMOS leyes Comienza juicio de agente del Departamento de Policía de Nueva York Informe sobre el cumplimiento del II ciclo de talleres-debates provinciales Delegación de EUA Este mes NOTICIAS Actividades de la Comisión José Antonio Aponte (CJAP) 2015 De la CJAP Will Smith no irá a entrega de Oscars El lunes 21 de diciembre 2015 tuvo lugar la reunión del Tercera brigada de ejecutivo de la CJAP con una representación del Ministerio solidaridad con Cuba del Turismo. Estuvo presidida por el primer vicepresidente “Antenor Firmin” Díaz-Canel. Se abordó el tema de turismo y racialidad. Perspectivas El martes 19 de enero del 2016 se efectuó un encuentro entre Fernando Rojas, viceministro de Cultura, y Heriberto Feraudy y Raquel González de la CJAP. Entre otros temas Del pensamiento maceista. se abordaron la construcción del monumento a Aponte, la casa Quintín Bandera, la propuesta del festival de las Por las Provincias culturas africanas, la formación de africanistas, el concierto Taller sobre racialidad contra el racismo y los programas de estudio en las escuelas de arte. Por otra parte, el viernes 22 de enero de 2016 hubo un encuentro de Danilo Sirio, presidente del ICRT, con los compañeros Heriberto Feraudy y José Luis Lobato . Entre otros temas se abordaron
    [Show full text]
  • Militant Heroines and the Consecration of the Patriarchal State: the Glorification of Loyalty, Combat, and National Suicide in the Making of Cuban National Identity
    K. LYNN STONER Militant Heroines and the Consecration of the Patriarchal State: The Glorification of Loyalty, Combat, and National Suicide in the Making of Cuban National Identity ABSTRACT The female combatant, a common icon of Cuban nationalism, is found in every histori- cal period from independence through the post-Soviet period. Unlike most other nations, Cubans have eulogized women who have defended their nation with their own lives and with those of their husbands and children. Yet, for all the fanfare these heroines have received in the nationalist discourse, few scholarly treatments of their lives exist. In- stead, their heroism has been used to exalt male leaders and to uphold a patriarchal state. Their martyrdom has served as a model of sacrifice unto death for all citizens to follow. This article examines the nature of Cuban combatant iconography that followed the Cuban wars of independence, the Early Republic, and the Cuban Revolution, and con- nects that iconography to the purposes of state building in each era. RESUMEN La mujer combatiente, ícono tradicional del nacionalismo cubano, se encuentra en cada período histórico desde la independencia hasta la etapa post-soviética. A diferencia de la mayoría de las naciones, los cubanos han alabado a las mujeres que han defendido sus naciones con sus propias vidas y las de sus esposos e hijos. Sin embargo, pese a toda la atención que estas heroínas han recibido en el discurso nacionalista, existen pocos estudios académicos sobre sus vidas. Por el contrario, su heroísmo ha sido utilizado para exaltar a los líderes masculinos y sostener el estado patriarcal.
    [Show full text]
  • Mariana Grajales En La Visión De José Martí La Tarea Que Nos Queda Por Hacer
    MARIANA GRAJALES EN LA VISIÓN DE JOSÉ MARTÍ LA TAREA QUE NOS QUEDA POR HACER Felipe de Jesús Pérez Cruz (historiador) La Habana, Cuba Los 120 años de la caída en combate del Héroe Nacional José Martí Pérez (1853- 1895), el 19 de mayo de 1895, se celebran con no pocas actividades de pensamiento. En justicia, alrededor de Martí y su obra, trabaja a lo largo de la geografía del país, un nutrido y talentoso colectivo de cientistas y activistas, y esta es hoy por hoy, una de las esferas de la historia y cultura cubana, que mejor se ha preparado para sistematizar y organizar su aporte a la educación y la construcción de la memoria, y la conciencia histórica de las presentes y futuras generaciones de cubanos y cubanas. Es legítimo entonces el que desde las fortalezas marianas, nos propongamos avanzar en otros campos de menor fertilidad. Este es el caso del debate alrededor de la honorífica revolucionaria, en vísperas de conmemorar el Bicentenario del nacimiento de la Madre de la Patria Mariana Grajales Cuello. Fig. 1. José Martí Frente a la propuesta de que el Consejo de Estado de la República de Cuba, otorgue a Mariana el título honorífico de Madre de la Patria, hay opiniones contrarias que pretenden sustentarse desde la declaración de Madre, hecha por Martí en homenaje póstumo. RUNA YACHACHIY, Revista digital. I Semestre 2016, Berlin El rescata del pasado–presente heroico José Martí, quien se auto reconoció continuador de la gesta bolivariana (1810– 1830), y en tanto articulador por excelencia de un proyecto–país que se abría a lo político desde el ámbito ético, ideológico y cultural; comprendió la trascendencia educativa y formativa de los panteones heroicos, tanto en lo que a la consolidación de la identidad patria se refiere, como al aporte de universalidad que cada pueblo tributa a su época y mundo.
    [Show full text]
  • Papers of the Forty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the SEMINAR on the ACQUISITION of LATIN AMERICAN LIBRARY MATERIALS
    Women in Latin American Studies: Reshaping the Boundaries I » "i . I ii vj SEMINAR ON THE ACQUISITION OF LATIN AMERICAN LIBRARY MATERIALS v* t^r XLIX *> I I * 1 AROLD B. LEB IfBRAltV 1HAM YOUNG UNIVERSf PROVO.UTAH ! Women in Latin American Studies Reshaping the Boundaries SALALM Secretariat Latin American Library Tulane University Women in Latin American Studies: Reshaping the Boundaries Papers of the Forty-Ninth Annual Meeting of the SEMINAR ON THE ACQUISITION OF LATIN AMERICAN LIBRARY MATERIALS Ann Arbor, Michigan June 5-8, 2004 Angela Carreño Editor SALALM Secretariat Latin American Library Tulane University JLU tí. Lhh LihJKAKY M YOUNG UNTVERSn PROVO, UTAH ISBN: 0-917617-76-2 Copyright © 2007 by SALALM, Inc. All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 1 Contents Preface vii Keynote Address 1. Empowering Women: Towards an Intellectual History of a Book Project Carmen Diana Deere 3 Mapping Recent Progress and Change 2. The Role of NGOs in the Quest for the Empowerment of Women and Gender Equality in Trinidad and Tobago Allison C. B. Do Iland 15 3. Redefinition of Masculinity and Femininity in Indo-Trinidadian Society Yacoob Hosein 24 4. Mayan Women's Post-Peace Accords Participation in Guatemalan Elections Karen Lindvall-Larson 36 5. Taller de lectura y escritura cárcel de mujeres Carolina Espinosa Arango 46 Approaches to Collection Management: An Examination of Issues 6. Tendencias en el manejo de la adquisición y el acceso a los recursos de información bibliográfica en bibliotecas mexicanas Eduardo Ruvalcaba Burgoa 57 7. Indigenous Film and Video in Latin America: Starting Points for Collection Development Daisy Domínguez 8 8.
    [Show full text]
  • Copyright by Paula Sanmartín 2005
    Copyright by Paula Sanmartín 2005 The Dissertation Committee for Paula Sanmartín Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: “Custodians of History”: (Re)Construction of Black Women as Historical and Literary Subjects in Afro-American and Afro- Cuban Women’s Writing Committee: César A. Salgado, Supervisor Susan S. Heinzelman, Co-Supervisor Naomi E. Lindstrom Jennifer M. Wilks Aline Helg “Custodians of History”: (Re)Construction of Black Women as Historical and Literary Subjects in Afro-American and Afro- Cuban Women’s Writing by Paula Sanmartín, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor in Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin August, 2005 Dedication A mi familia que me ha apoyado sin cesar durante toda mi carrera. A Ricardo, que tanta inspiración me ha dado. A mis amigos, que tanto creyeron en mí. A Sherley Ann Williams, por haber plantado en mí ese granito de arena que tanto ha crecido. Acknowledgements I would like to thank the Program of Comparative Literature and the Department of Spanish and Portuguese for their support throughout the years; the Cuban writers and scholars I met in Havana, who willingly and generously helped me with my work. I would like to thank especially the members of my committee: César A. Salgado, for guiding and supporting me throughout the process of writing my dissertation; Susan S. Heinzelman, for her guidance and kindness, which went beyond the professional relationship; Naomi E. Lindstrom, for her relentless editing of my chapters; Jennifer M.
    [Show full text]
  • Le Statut De La Femme Cubaine À L'épreuve D'une Société Machiste
    Le statut de la femme cubaine à l’épreuve d’une société machiste Stéphanie Merhrioui To cite this version: Stéphanie Merhrioui. Le statut de la femme cubaine à l’épreuve d’une société machiste. Histoire. Université de la Sorbonne nouvelle - Paris III, 2009. Français. NNT : 2009PA030094. tel-00797111 HAL Id: tel-00797111 https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00797111 Submitted on 5 Mar 2013 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle-Paris 3 Ecole Doctorale 122 Thèse de Doctorat Europe Latine et Amérique Latine Stéphanie MERHRIOUI Le statut de la femme cubaine à l’épreuve d’une société machiste Thèse dirigée par Bernard Lavallé BENAT TACHOT Louise LAVALLE Bernard RODRIGUEZ Miguel 1 Résumé en français Le féminisme et la femme en Occident La situation de la femme est souvent mal perçue à travers le monde. Beaucoup d’entre elles sont opprimées même dans les pays les plus développés. Cela proviendrait essentiellement du machisme. Dans tous les pays le manque d’éducation, l’appartenance à une religion et les fortes traditions ancestrales font des hommes de vrais machos. Ils ont du mal à faire la part des choses et traite la femme comme une vulgaire domestique.
    [Show full text]
  • Curry-Machado Thesis
    INDISPENSABLE ALIENS : THE INFLUENCE OF ENGINEERING MIGRANTS IN MID -NINETEENTH CENTURY CUBA JONATHAN CURRY -MACHADO A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of London Metropolitan University, for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy September 2003 ii ABSTRACT How can a small group of migrants, who have barely registered in the history books, have had any significance for the society into which they came? Henry Elkins, and the other foreign engineering workers, or maquinistas , who were thrown into prison with him in 1844, accused of involvement in a plot to end slavery and overthrow Spanish rule in Cuba, might have asked themselves this same question. Yet their story, along with that of the other North Atlantic maquinistas who travelled to Cuba to operate the revolutionary new steam technology that was being introduced into the island’s sugar mills, railways and mines, is revealing of the unexpected ways in which migrants might engage with and influence society. Coming from cities that had been transformed by the industrial revolution, of which they were the vanguard, they arrived in a Spanish colony dependent upon transnational commercial networks for its wealth, and African slavery for its labour. Having emigrated in search of opportunities denied them in the overcrowded labour markets from which they came, they were not disappointed, so valuable were their skills to Cuba’s position as the world’s leading sugar producer. But their high salaries and technological contributions could not buy them a place in Cuban society. Though their interaction with the complex matrix of Cuban identity divisions led them to rearticulate themselves, they were different and resented, and they found themselves increasingly defined by this otherness.
    [Show full text]
  • Pdf Martínez Alier, Verena
    Procesos Históricos ISSN: 1690-4818 [email protected] Universidad de los Andes Venezuela Garcia Chichester, Ana El legado de las mambisas afrodescendientes a la guerra de independencia cubana Procesos Históricos, núm. 38, 2020, Julio-, pp. 27-38 Universidad de los Andes Venezuela Disponible en: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=20064053003 Cómo citar el artículo Número completo Sistema de Información Científica Redalyc Más información del artículo Red de Revistas Científicas de América Latina y el Caribe, España y Portugal Página de la revista en redalyc.org Proyecto académico sin fines de lucro, desarrollado bajo la iniciativa de acceso abierto Ana García Chichester El legado de las mambisas afrodescendientes a la guerra de independencia cubana Procesos Históricos. Revista de Historia, 38, julio-diciembre, 2020, 27-38 Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida (Venezuela) ISSN 1690-4818 El legado de las mambisas afrodescendientes a la guerra de independencia cubana Ana Garcia Chichester* [[email protected]] Department of language and literature University of Mary (UMary) Washington, D.C. Estados Unidos de América Resumen Este estudio traza la contribución de las mambisas revolucionarias de descendencia africana a las guerras de independencia de Cuba del siglo XIX a través de la representación de tres afrocubanas: Mariana Grajales, Dominga Moncada y Rosa Castellanos. Todas ejemplifican la manera en que su espíritu de rebeldía llegó a desarrollarse dentro de las circunstancias opresivas que padecían. Al pertenecer a la población colonial más perjudicada desde el triple punto de vista de raza, género y condición socioeconómica, las mambisas afrodescendientes eran las que más tenían que ganar con la liberación de la isla del sistema colonialista.
    [Show full text]
  • Filial Phantasmagoria the Apocryphal Sons of Antonio Maceo (Father of the Cuban Nation)
    New West Indian Guide 93 (2019) 5–40 nwig brill.com/nwig Filial Phantasmagoria The Apocryphal Sons of Antonio Maceo (Father of the Cuban Nation) Jennifer L. Lambe Brown University [email protected] Abstract Antonio Maceo Grajales (1845–1896) is one of the most celebrated heroes of Cuban independence. Though he died before he could see the dawn of a sovereign, if U.S.- occupied, Cuba, Maceo would become an important node of nationalist commemo- ration. Throughout this process, Maceo’s blackness represented both a source of his prestige—the struggle against African slavery had been intimately tied to indepen- dence—and a barometer of lingering racial inequalities. Posthumous depictions thus tended to downplay racial tensions in a unifying vision of nation. Yet Maceo’s martyr- dom in the Spanish-Cuban-AmericanWar also reverberated in more uncanny registers. Before and after his death, apocryphal sons emerged periodically from the shadows, opening battles over Maceo’s legacy. In their movement across borders, these real and apocryphal children gave voice to silences around race and sovereignty as they con- verged on the body of their lionized “father,” while also opening up narrative spaces wherein the status quo could be reimagined. Keywords Antonio Maceo – Cuba – U.S. imperialism – race – sovereignty – historical memory Reporting from Madrid’s Teatro de la Comedia several years after Cuba’s final battle for independence (1895–98), a Spanish correspondent found himself in the company of Panchito Maceo Fernández, a self-proclaimed son of the island’s liberator, Antonio Maceo. Maceo, along with José Martí, was one of the symbolic fathers of the Cuban nation; like Martí, he had sacrificed his life in pursuit of freedom from Spain.
    [Show full text]