ReMembering Cuba : legacy of a diaspora

Author(s)

Bibliographic Information

ReMembering Cuba : legacy of a diaspora

Andrea O'Reilly Herrera, editor

University of Texas Press, 2001

  • : pbk

Available at  / 3 libraries

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Note

Includes bibliographical references (p. [321]-325)

Description and Table of Contents

Volume

ISBN 9780292731462

Description

Longing for their lost homeland unites Cuban exiles and their children, many of whom have never seen the Island. Yet as decades pass and the hope of "next year in Cuba" fades, the Cuban American community has had to forge new understandings of where "home" is and what it means to be "Cuban," "American," and/or "Cuban American." The testimonies gathered in this book offer over one hundred perspectives on the Cuban diaspora and on what it means to be Cuban in exile. Through narratives, interviews, creative writings, letters, journal entries, recipes, photographs, and paintings, Cubans from various waves of the migration and their descendants piece together a complex mosaic of the exile experience and diasporic identity. In her introduction, Andrea O'Reilly Herrera describes how she conceived the project and chose the contributors, including both unknown and established artists and writers such as Gustavo Perez Firmat, Sylvia Curbelo, Pablo Medina, Lourdes Gil, Ricardo Pau-Llosa, Heberto Padilla, and Jose Kozer. The contributors' diverse and sometimes conflicting voices offer a more inclusive and complex understanding of Cuban American identity and the various Cuban "presences" residing throughout the United States. Likewise, they overthrow a perceived "hierarchy of suffering" among Cuban Americans, which purports to dictate who can and cannot speak authentically about exile and loss, as well as what form their expression can take.

Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Andrea O'Reilly Herrera Section I : The Interior Exile ("insilio") Leandro Soto: Testimonio de un artista Rafael E. Saumell: Oh, La Habana Manena's Cuban American Recipes Hector R. Romero: Life in Exile Sara Rosell: The "Sandwich" Generation Efrain J. Ferrer and Vivian de la Incera: The Thirteenth Suitcase Enrique Patterson: Sin calcetines Julio J. Guerra Molina: Beyond Fear Luis Cruz Azaceta: Dead Rafter II Silvia Curbelo: Balsero Singing Section II: "Merely a Player" Heberto Padilla: Los que se alejan siempre son los ninos Maria Brito: Merely a Player Ileana Fuentes: Portrait of Wendy, At Fifty, With Bra Luz Irene Diaz: The Wooden Suitcase Maria Emilia Castagliola: Once upon a Time in May of 1961... Juan Manuel Alonso: Crossing into the Mainstream Gabriella Ibieta: Fragmented Memories Tony Mendoza: Going Back Section III: Crossing the Generational Divide An Afternoon with Ernesto F. Betancourt Adela Betancourt Jabine: Growing Up Cuban American Maria Antonia Soto: My Life in Exile Francisco Soto: Lost Memories and Nostalgic Obsessions Flora Gonzalez Mandri: Thirty-Two Years Later Rachel Werner Baldwin: Island of Color Alicia Serrano Machiran Granto: Life al reves Gina Granto-Penque: On Being Cuban Ada Manero Alvare: One Mother's Testimonial Tia Ada's Arroz con leche Carlos Alberto Alvare: Losing Eden Section IV: Snapshots Ricardo Pau-Llosa: La hora de los mameyes Maria Cristina Garcia: Abui Olga Mendell: A Cuban American Memoir Virgil Suarez: Song for the Royal Palms of Miami Silvia Curbelo: Photograph of My Parents Silvia Curbelo: First Shift at Hershey's, 4 A.M. Andrea O'Reilly Herrera: Inhabited Woman Nilda Cepero: Burialground Raquel Romeu: A Journal from the Bay of Mariel Jorge Luis Romeu: Political Exile Section V: The Culture Wars Gustavo Perez Firmat: The Facts of Life on the Hyphen Lourdes Gil: Against the Grain:Writing Spanish in the USA Lourdes Gil: From "The Necessary Treasons" Marta Elena Acosta Stone: Understanding del Casal Mayling C. Blanco: A Cubana in NewYork Virgil Suarez: Arroz Carolina Hospital: What Kind of Cuban AreYou? Nilda Cepero: Tropical Flavor Elias Miguel Munoz: Flags and Rags (On Golden Lake) Kenya Carmen Dworkin y Mendez: Next Stop Ninety Miles Section VI: "The Bite of Exile" Jose Kozer: The Bite of Exile Jose Kozer: Autobiography Heberto Padilla: Culture and Exile Ricardo Pau-Llosa: The Wages of Exile Jorge Guitart: Foreigner's Notebook Jorge Guitart: In the Wilderness Connie Lloveras: Living on Borrowed Ground Virgil Suarez: Clotheslines Carlos J. Alvare: Letter to His Niece Emilio M. Mozo: exilio Emilio M. Mozo: sombras Nilda Cepero: Paradox Pablo Medina: Where Are You From? A Cuban Dilemma Pablo Medina: The Chosen Carlota Caulfield: Even Names Have Their Exile Carlota Caulfield: The Photo That Watches Section VII: "Grace under Pressure" Leandro Soto: Cubans in the U.S. Grisel Pujala-Soto: Exile: Reality or lmagination Heberto Padilla: Entre el gato y la casa Raul Fernandez: Musicians in Motion Raul Fernandez: From"Celia Cruz" Raul Fernandez: From"La magia musical de Cachao" Carmen Herrera: Yesterday/Ayer Rafael Soriano: E1 descanso del heroe Rocio Rodriguez: Head and Vessel Luis Cruz Azaceta: From Outside Cuba/Fuera de Cuba Maria Martinez-Canas: Historia rota (Broken History) Orlando Rodriguez Sardinas (Rossardi): Exilio Roberto G. Fernandez: Abode Jesus J. Barquet: Lluvia y primaveras Yara Gonzalez-Montes: Autobiography, Historiography, and Mythography in Matias Montes Huidobro's Desterrados al fuego Section VIII: Inheriting Exile Gisele M. Requena: On Being an American-Born Cuban from Miami Maria de los Angeles Lemus: From "Stories My Mother Never Told Me" Victor Andres Triay: ABCs in South Florida Suburbia Alberto Rey: Appropriated Memories Margarita Engle: Inheriting Exile Cecilia Rodriguez Milanes: Un Testimonio Gabriel Rodriguez: The Grand Finale Maura Barrios: Memoirs of a Tampena Andrea O'Reilly Herrera: Una cubanita pasada por agua Cata's "pie" de guayaba Select Bibliography
Volume

: pbk ISBN 9780292731479

Description

Longing for their lost homeland unites Cuban exiles and their children, many of whom have never seen the Island. Yet as decades pass and the hope of "next year in Cuba" fades, the Cuban American community has had to forge new understandings of where "home" is and what it means to be "Cuban," "American," and/or "Cuban American." The testimonies gathered in this book offer over one hundred perspectives on the Cuban diaspora and on what it means to be Cuban in exile. Through narratives, interviews, creative writings, letters, journal entries, recipes, photographs, and paintings, Cubans from various waves of the migration and their descendants piece together a complex mosaic of the exile experience and diasporic identity. In her introduction, Andrea O'Reilly Herrera describes how she conceived the project and chose the contributors, including both unknown and established artists and writers such as Gustavo Perez Firmat, Sylvia Curbelo, Pablo Medina, Lourdes Gil, Ricardo Pau-Llosa, Heberto Padilla, and Jose Kozer. The contributors' diverse and sometimes conflicting voices offer a more inclusive and complex understanding of Cuban American identity and the various Cuban "presences" residing throughout the United States. Likewise, they overthrow a perceived "hierarchy of suffering" among Cuban Americans, which purports to dictate who can and cannot speak authentically about exile and loss, as well as what form their expression can take.

Table of Contents

Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Andrea O'Reilly Herrera Section I : The Interior Exile ("insilio") Leandro Soto: Testimonio de un artista Rafael E. Saumell: Oh, La Habana Manena's Cuban American Recipes Hector R. Romero: Life in Exile Sara Rosell: The "Sandwich" Generation Efrain J. Ferrer and Vivian de la Incera: The Thirteenth Suitcase Enrique Patterson: Sin calcetines Julio J. Guerra Molina: Beyond Fear Luis Cruz Azaceta: Dead Rafter II Silvia Curbelo: Balsero Singing Section II: "Merely a Player" Heberto Padilla: Los que se alejan siempre son los ninos Maria Brito: Merely a Player Ileana Fuentes: Portrait of Wendy, At Fifty, With Bra Luz Irene Diaz: The Wooden Suitcase Maria Emilia Castagliola: Once upon a Time in May of 1961... Juan Manuel Alonso: Crossing into the Mainstream Gabriella Ibieta: Fragmented Memories Tony Mendoza: Going Back Section III: Crossing the Generational Divide An Afternoon with Ernesto F. Betancourt Adela Betancourt Jabine: Growing Up Cuban American Maria Antonia Soto: My Life in Exile Francisco Soto: Lost Memories and Nostalgic Obsessions Flora Gonzalez Mandri: Thirty-Two Years Later Rachel Werner Baldwin: Island of Color Alicia Serrano Machiran Granto: Life al reves Gina Granto-Penque: On Being Cuban Ada Manero Alvare: One Mother's Testimonial Tia Ada's Arroz con leche Carlos Alberto Alvare: Losing Eden Section IV: Snapshots Ricardo Pau-Llosa: La hora de los mameyes Maria Cristina Garcia: Abui Olga Mendell: A Cuban American Memoir Virgil Suarez: Song for the Royal Palms of Miami Silvia Curbelo: Photograph of My Parents Silvia Curbelo: First Shift at Hershey's, 4 A.M. Andrea O'Reilly Herrera: Inhabited Woman Nilda Cepero: Burialground Raquel Romeu: A Journal from the Bay of Mariel Jorge Luis Romeu: Political Exile Section V: The Culture Wars Gustavo Perez Firmat: The Facts of Life on the Hyphen Lourdes Gil: Against the Grain:Writing Spanish in the USA Lourdes Gil: From "The Necessary Treasons" Marta Elena Acosta Stone: Understanding del Casal Mayling C. Blanco: A Cubana in NewYork Virgil Suarez: Arroz Carolina Hospital: What Kind of Cuban AreYou? Nilda Cepero: Tropical Flavor Elias Miguel Munoz: Flags and Rags (On Golden Lake) Kenya Carmen Dworkin y Mendez: Next Stop Ninety Miles Section VI: "The Bite of Exile" Jose Kozer: The Bite of Exile Jose Kozer: Autobiography Heberto Padilla: Culture and Exile Ricardo Pau-Llosa: The Wages of Exile Jorge Guitart: Foreigner's Notebook Jorge Guitart: In the Wilderness Connie Lloveras: Living on Borrowed Ground Virgil Suarez: Clotheslines Carlos J. Alvare: Letter to His Niece Emilio M. Mozo: exilio Emilio M. Mozo: sombras Nilda Cepero: Paradox Pablo Medina: Where Are You From? A Cuban Dilemma Pablo Medina: The Chosen Carlota Caulfield: Even Names Have Their Exile Carlota Caulfield: The Photo That Watches Section VII: "Grace under Pressure" Leandro Soto: Cubans in the U.S. Grisel Pujala-Soto: Exile: Reality or lmagination Heberto Padilla: Entre el gato y la casa Raul Fernandez: Musicians in Motion Raul Fernandez: From"Celia Cruz" Raul Fernandez: From"La magia musical de Cachao" Carmen Herrera: Yesterday/Ayer Rafael Soriano: E1 descanso del heroe Rocio Rodriguez: Head and Vessel Luis Cruz Azaceta: From Outside Cuba/Fuera de Cuba Maria Martinez-Canas: Historia rota (Broken History) Orlando Rodriguez Sardinas (Rossardi): Exilio Roberto G. Fernandez: Abode Jesus J. Barquet: Lluvia y primaveras Yara Gonzalez-Montes: Autobiography, Historiography, and Mythography in Matias Montes Huidobro's Desterrados al fuego Section VIII: Inheriting Exile Gisele M. Requena: On Being an American-Born Cuban from Miami Maria de los Angeles Lemus: From "Stories My Mother Never Told Me" Victor Andres Triay: ABCs in South Florida Suburbia Alberto Rey: Appropriated Memories Margarita Engle: Inheriting Exile Cecilia Rodriguez Milanes: Un Testimonio Gabriel Rodriguez: The Grand Finale Maura Barrios: Memoirs of a Tampena Andrea O'Reilly Herrera: Una cubanita pasada por agua Cata's "pie" de guayaba Select Bibliography

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