Beyond Cuban Waters: Africa, La Yuma, And The Island’s Global Imagination

241 Pages·2018·1.668 MB·English

by  Paul Ryer

BEYOND
CUBAN
WATERS
África, La Yuma, and the
Island’s Global Imagination
V
A
N
D
E
Paul Ryer
R
B
I
L
T
Beyond Cuban Waters

BEYON D
C U BA N
WAT E R S
África, La Yuma, and the
Island’s Global Imagination
Paul Ryer
Vanderbilt University Press | Nashville
© 2018 by Vanderbilt University Press
Nashville, Tennessee 37235
All rights reserved
First printing 2018
This book is printed on acid- free paper.
Manufactured in the United States of America
This book was made possible in part
by financial assistance from the
RUTH LANDES MEMORIAL RESEARCH FUND,
a program of the Reed Foundation.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data on file
LC control number 2016030964
LC classification number F1760 .R94 2016
Dewey classification number 972.91— dc23
LC record available at lccn.loc.gov/2016030964
ISBN 978- 0- 8265- 2118- 7 (hardcover)
ISBN 978- 0- 8265- 2119- 4 (paperback)
ISBN 978- 0- 8265- 2120- 0 (ebook)
for Kelly

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: An Antillean Archipelago 1
1. The Rise and Decline of La Yuma 25
2. África in Revolutionary Cuba 57
3. Color, Mestizaje, and Belonging in Cuba 89
4. Beyond a Boundary 123
Conclusion: Geographies of Imagination 157
Notes 163
References 189
Index 219

Acknowledgments
Although it is impossible to acknowledge every important impact on this
project, I must begin with my father, Joseph Ryer, whose decision to
sail with my sister and me to Haiti and the Caribbean from 1979 to 1981
set the stage for my anthropological consciousness and commitments. I
have also been fortunate to have had a number of special teachers, including
Mrs. Lambert, Mrs. Dailey, and Mr. Stoval. David Edwards and Deborah
Gewertz redefine collegiate mentorship, and words are inadequate to thank
either of them. At the University of Chicago, many colleagues and class-
mates contributed invaluable critiques, comments, and informal support,
including especially Paul Silverstein, Kimbra Smith, Frank Romagosa, Daniel
Wall, Keith Brown, Anne- Maria Makhulu, Frank Bechter, David Altshuler,
Christopher Nelson, Matthew Hull, Hylton White, Krisztina Fehérváry,
Robin Derby, Emily Vogt, and Greg Beckett. Among the faculty of the
department, Marshall Sahlins, Andy Apter, Jean Comaroff, Susan Gal, John
Kelly, James Fernandez, R. T. Smith, Stephan Palmié, and, most particularly,
Michel-R olph Trouillot taught me, step-b y- step, to become a professional
anthropologist.
The Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund of the Reed Foundation, the
University of Chicago, the Trustees of Amherst College, the John D. and
Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Mount Holyoke College, and the
University of California provided essential field research support. Beatriz
Riefkohl, Josh Beck, and the staff of the University of Chicago’s Center for
Latin American Studies provided invaluable support during the difficult ini-
tial years of the project. My studies in Cuba also could not have succeeded
without the extraordinary assistance of my parents, Marianne and Dean
Lewis, who not only repeatedly brought assorted supplies, mail, and tax
ix