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Devyn Spence Benson
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Antiracism in Cuba: The Unfinished Revolution (Envisioning Cuba) Kindle Edition

by Devyn Spence Benson (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 12 ratings
See all formats and editions
Analyzing the ideology and rhetoric around race in Cuba and south Florida during the early years of the Cuban revolution, Devyn Spence Benson argues that ideas, stereotypes, and discriminatory practices relating to racial difference persisted despite major efforts by the Cuban state to generate social equality. Drawing on Cuban and U.S. archival materials and face-to-face interviews, Benson examines 1960s government programs and campaigns against discrimination, showing how such programs frequently negated their efforts by reproducing racist images and idioms in revolutionary propaganda, cartoons, and school materials.

Building on nineteenth-century discourses that imagined Cuba as a raceless space, revolutionary leaders embraced a narrow definition of blackness, often seeming to suggest that Afro-Cubans had to discard their blackness to join the revolution. This was and remains a false dichotomy for many Cubans of color, Benson demonstrates. While some Afro-Cubans agreed with the revolution's sentiments about racial transcendence--"not blacks, not whites, only Cubans--others found ways to use state rhetoric to demand additional reforms. Still others, finding a revolution that disavowed blackness unsettling and paternalistic, fought to insert black history and African culture into revolutionary nationalisms. Despite such efforts by Afro-Cubans and radical government-sponsored integration programs, racism has persisted throughout the revolution in subtle but lasting ways.
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  1. Part of series
    Envisioning Cuba
  2. Print length
    324 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publisher
    The University of North Carolina Press
  6. Publication date
    April 5, 2016
  7. File size
    7631 KB
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Not Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Benson's thoughtful book challenges many ideas about race in Cuba and in general. . . . Provides a perspective not otherwise found in studies of the Cuban Revolution, and stresses Afro-descendants' ownership of their place in Cuba's history. Highly recommended.--Choice



A rare, impressively researched study of Cuban racial politics in the post 1959 era.--New Orleans Tribune



Antiracism in Cuba: The Unfinished Revolution is well-rounded in its coverage of intellectual, political, and social terrain, and it marshals a wide range of sources in its convincing analysis--American Historical Review



Offers readers an unflinching analysis of the equally significant achievements and failures of the revolutionary government's three-year antiracism campaign.--Latin American Research Review



This is an impressive piece of research as it digs deep in order to explain the ways the new government [in Cuba] addressed the thorny issues of race and racial discrimination.--Canadian Journal of History



Beautifully weaves together the commonalities of nineteenth-century anticolonial struggles, twentieth-century revolutionary ideologies, and state practices.--Journal of American History



Succeeds admirably in providing a textured, multifaceted account of the early revolutionary period, and specifically Cuba's contradictory campaign to end racial discrimination.--H-Net



Unearths the substrate of historical successes, hypocrisies, and strategic elisions underlying contemporary debates about Cuban race relations. . . . Powerfully complicates the oft-repeated idea that racism 'returned' to the island during the trying post-Soviet economic crisis of the 1990s.--Michael J. Bustamante, NACLA Report on the Americas

Review

Insightful and impressively researched, this is a rare, archivally based study of Cuban racial politics in the post-1959 era. It has contemporary resonance because it provides a badly needed historical context for the ongoing struggle for racial equality in revolutionary Cuba. Devyn Spence Benson pushes beyond the 'raceless' rhetoric of the Castro government to find glimpses of the ways Afro-Cubans subtly challenge attempts to silence their aspirations for racial equality.--Frank Andre Guridy, The University of Texas at Austin

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B015ZTG3NI
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The University of North Carolina Press; Illustrated edition (April 5, 2016)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 5, 2016
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 7631 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 324 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 12 ratings

About the author

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Devyn Spence Benson

Devyn Spence Benson

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Dr. Devyn Spence Benson is an Associate Professor of Africana and Latin American Studies and the Chair of the Department of Africana Studies at Davidson College. Benson received her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in the field of Latin American History, where her research focused on racial politics during the first three years of the Cuban revolution. She has taught at UNC-Chapel Hill, Williams College, Louisiana State University, and now Davidson College. She is the author of published articles and reviews in the Hispanic American Historical Review, Journal of Transnational American Studies, and PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin / American Research Association. Benson's work has been supported by the Doris G. Quinn, Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS), and Gaius Charles Bolin dissertation fellowships. She has also held residencies at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem and the WEB DuBois Institute for African and African American Research at the Hutchins Center at Harvard University. Benson's newest book, Antiracism in Cuba: The Unfinished Revolution is based on over 18 months of field research in Cuba where she has traveled annually since 2003. In her spare time, Benson likes to read, play tennis, and cheer on her UNC Tarheels! Follow her on TWITTER @bensondevyn

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
12 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

M. J. Berry
5.0 out of 5 stars a true gift for scholars and activists of black struggle within revolution.
Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2016
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Dr. Spence Benson has given scholars of race politics in Cuba a true gift . Sharp analysis of a complex history, rigorous in its research and elegant in its writing. A much needed addition to the canon of Cuban history, a much needed referent for studies in the humanities and social sciences about the present moment. A must-read for scholars and activists.
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NA
5.0 out of 5 stars All of the examples and accounts she used as support were great.
Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2017
Verified Purchase
I appreciated the clear and thorough way the author explained her position. All of the examples and accounts she used as support were great.
2 people found this helpful
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Otis Cunningham
5.0 out of 5 stars Simply fabulous !!!
Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2016
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This is the book I have been waiting for since my first trip to Cuba in 1983. It is the best work without question on this issue in English or Spanish.
3 people found this helpful
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