Los Cubanos: Searching for Cuba's Soul

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Author :
Publisher : Rocky Nook
ISBN 13 : 9781681988573
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (885 download)

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Book Synopsis Los Cubanos: Searching for Cuba's Soul by :

Download or read book Los Cubanos: Searching for Cuba's Soul written by and published by Rocky Nook. This book was released on 2021-10-05 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

La Lucha for Cuba

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Author :
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520238524
Total Pages : 202 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (22 download)

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Book Synopsis La Lucha for Cuba by : Miguel A. De La Torre

Download or read book La Lucha for Cuba written by Miguel A. De La Torre and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2003-10-10 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This, the first major study of popular religion in Miami’s community of exiled Cubans, is outstanding. De La Torre captures the intimacy and flavor of a spiritual movement that crosses moral and theological lines. It’s bound to upset some for its frank conclusions; but all great books go against the inherited grain in some way."—Luis León, author of La Llorona’s Children: Religion, Life, and Death in the U.S.-Mexican Borderlands "A daring and careful exposé of the political and religious right-wing discourse circulating among Cuban exiles. In this extremely important, courageous, and long-overdue project about cubanidad (Cubanness), De La Torre has created a historical marker in the effort to clear the way for a more democratic and spiritually compassionate world for Cuban Americans."—Laura Perez, Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of California, Berkeley

Finding Manana

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Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0143036602
Total Pages : 321 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (43 download)

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Book Synopsis Finding Manana by : Mirta Ojito

Download or read book Finding Manana written by Mirta Ojito and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2006-04-04 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A vibrant, moving memoir of prizewinning journalist and New York Times reporter Mirta Ojito and her departure from Cuba in the Mariel boatlift—an enduring story of a family caught up in the tumultuous politics of the twentieth century. Mirta Ojito was one teenager among more than a hundred thousand fellow refugees who traveled to Miami during the unprecedented events of the Mariel boatlift. Growing up, Ojito was eager to fit in and join Castro’s Young Pioneers, but as she grew older and began to understand the darker side of the Cuban revolution, she and her family began to aspire to a safer, happier life. When Castro opened Cuba’s borders for those who wanted to leave, her family was more than ready to go: they had been waiting for the opportunity for twenty years. Now an acclaimed reporter, Ojito tells her story and reckons with her past with all of the determination and intelligence—and the will to confront darkness—that carried her through the boatlift. In this stunning autobiography, she sets out to find the people who set this exodus in motion, including the Vietnam vet on whose boat, Mañana, she finally crossed the treacherous Florida Strait. In Finding Mañana, Ojito and tell the stories of the boatlift’s key players in superb and poignant detail—chronicling both individual lives and a major historical event.

Journey Back Into The Vault

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Publisher : Xlibris Corporation
ISBN 13 : 1664199276
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (641 download)

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Book Synopsis Journey Back Into The Vault by : Mario Cartaya

Download or read book Journey Back Into The Vault written by Mario Cartaya and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2022-02-25 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Journey Back into the Vault: In Search of My Faded Cuban Childhood Footprints invites you to travel with me back to the land of my birth for the first time in fifty-six years in order to reclaim my forgotten Cuban childhood memories, original identity, and once-promised destiny. Come with me as I search for the now faded footprints I once left behind in the homes, school, and playgrounds of the first nine years of my life; help me honor the grandparents, uncles, and aunts I never saw again at their final resting place; and meet family members I never knew I had. Laugh, sigh, and cry with me during the many unforeseen experiences, astonishing events, and serendipitous moments that would forever change my life. Enjoy the improbable story of a courageous journey aimed at breaching the subconscious vault I once built to store the difficult memories of a childhood usurped, destiny denied, and loving family forever separated by geopolitical events. This is the story of those psychological forces that help define us, the power of enduring hope, and how by achieving purity of heart, reconciliation, and a soul at rest, we can evolve into better versions of ourselves—a universal message of love and enlightenment that can only begin with each individual’s search for self-actualization and inner peace.

Cuba: Another Side of the Story

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Publisher : Xlibris Corporation
ISBN 13 : 1450099912
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (5 download)

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Book Synopsis Cuba: Another Side of the Story by : Iris M. Diaz

Download or read book Cuba: Another Side of the Story written by Iris M. Diaz and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2010-01-27 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cuba: Another Side of the Story is a memoir of how life changed for many children growing up in a country slowly dying under constant political conflict. The story is told in three parts: Part I “Before Castro,” Part II “Life under Castro,” Part III “Life in Exile.” This book creates a vivid sense of time and place through childhood memories of pre- and post-Castro Cuba, from 1945 to 1967. The forty two stories, told through the voice of a child, highlight moments of injustice in the eyes of a young girl who does not understand why the world around her is so strange. Her nanny, a poor black woman, shaped her soul and showed her the other side of the story, the story of the poor who are voiceless in a world where only those who can afford to pay for elite private schools can get ahead in life. This nanny becomes the spiritual guide who enables a very sensitive young child to navigate in a confusing world. Every one of the 42 stories focuses on a moment where the child relives memories of what she witnessed growing up. The first story is dedicated to Nana, the person whose memory guides her to write her life story. The title of the stories clearly describe how Nana influenced the author and helped her see the other side of the story. “El Barrio” describes a neighborhood where the rich, middle class and the poor lived in close proximity, a reflection of what Cuban society was in the 1950’s-“Everyone lived under the same sun, moon and stars but our worlds were very different.” The chapter about “Sunday Mass” describes the well-dressed parishioners who every Sunday walked through the park next to the Church and ignored the beggars who held their arms out, palms up, hoping to get a nickel or dime. “I don’t think the beggars got any of the money the priests collected every Sunday because they came back every Sunday. I never understood why God didn’t take care of everybody the same way.” Religious conflict plus the rich versus poor struggles are present throughout the book. Castro started his revolution claiming he wanted to help the poor. In the end, everyone, including the poor, were deceived by a charismatic man who understood what the poor wanted to hear, a promise of equality for all. His communist doctrine doomed the possibility of ever achieving equality for all. During Sunday Mass the priests would often remind poor parishioners how much God loved the needy by quoting verses like, “Blessed are the poor for they shall inherit the Kingdom of God,” or “For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” Religion and poverty seem to be two themes that prevail throughout this book, expressed clearly by the voice of the author who puts into words her thoughts by writing, “I never understood why God didn’t take care of everybody the same way.” The stories “The Day the Old Cuba Died“ and “The Bay of Pigs Invasion” describe the days leading to the failed attempt by Cuban exiles to get rid of the Castro regime. All hope and dreams died. The only dream left was to find a way to leave the island. The chapter “Adios Cuba” is a vivid memory of what it means to become a political exile. “Exile is more than a change of address, it is a spiritual displacement.” This book is not a research study about Cuban maids, family, religion or politics; it is a story about a young child and the life of her nanny and maids who allowed her to enter their world, a world that many don’t dare to acknowledge.

Conga & Lu

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Author :
Publisher : Gatekeeper Press
ISBN 13 : 166290410X
Total Pages : 540 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (629 download)

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Book Synopsis Conga & Lu by : Cuba Giblin

Download or read book Conga & Lu written by Cuba Giblin and published by Gatekeeper Press. This book was released on 2021-03-05 with total page 540 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From crushes to Castro, freedom to fear, barefoot feet to big city streets, follow the ordinary, yet extraordinary lives of two strong Cuban women – Conga & Lu, a true story of family, country, survival, and love. Conga’s idyllic childhood with a wealthy prestigious family in Havana is happy and carefree. Lu, a young black woman from rural Matanzas, becomes Conga’s nanny. Their bond will transcend age, race, and privilege. But when Fidel Castro assumes power, the revolution transforms Cuba forever, and their ties will be tested by distance and time. With her doll and some clothes, Conga and her brother are desperately flown to the United States among 14,000 unaccompanied Cuban children during Operation Peter Pan. Conga must quickly adapt to poverty and a new culture, while holding on to Cuban roots in exile. Under Castro’s new government, Lu struggles to care for her own children. Beset by hardship, misfortune, heartbreak, and an endless search for a home and happiness, she never loses her positivity and faith. From the days before the revolution to the present, Conga and Lu’s indomitable spirits triumph over historic obstacles. After nearly sixty years, Conga returns and finds Cuba torn apart, her home unrecognizable, with the mysteries of her lost family and Lu’s whereabouts unsolved. Filled with tears, smiles, and memories, Conga’s past becomes the present. But will Lu will still be there?

Cuba on My Mind

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Author :
Publisher : Verso
ISBN 13 : 9781859843611
Total Pages : 196 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (436 download)

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Book Synopsis Cuba on My Mind by : Roman De La Campa

Download or read book Cuba on My Mind written by Roman De La Campa and published by Verso. This book was released on 2002-09-17 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this moving and personal account of the forty-three-year-old divide between Cuba and its exile population in the United States, Román de la Campa questions both sides of a family feud that is acutely reflective of its own experience. Taking the three migration waves of Cubans to the United States as a historical background to his own story, the author details the continuing rift between Havana and Miami and the shaping, in the light of globalization and post-socialism, of a Cuban national split which has obvious consequences for both countries.

Rediscovering Cuba

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Author :
Publisher : iUniverse
ISBN 13 : 0595194575
Total Pages : 122 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (951 download)

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Book Synopsis Rediscovering Cuba by : Jorge Reyes

Download or read book Rediscovering Cuba written by Jorge Reyes and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2001 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the riveting story of a family's trip to their native land of Cuba. In 1998, the author was informed of his grandmother's terminal illness. Curious to unravel the mystery that for many years has enshrouded Cuba, he convinced his mother and aunt to accompany him and revisit their native land, the country they had left behind forty and twenty years, respectively. This book, part diary, part memoir, is based on this memorable and nostalgic trip. We are taken to Santiago de Cuba and to Boniato, a small town on the outskirts of the city rumored to have been built atop an old Indian cemetery. Along the way, we meet colorful characters and eccentric family members set against a rich background of folklore, local color and politics: we meet the author's aunt Mimi who as a girl thought a cow was her mother; his great grandmother who died of a stroke after arguing with a flock of pigeons; and even ghosts rumored to haunt his small family house in Boniato.

Last Dance in Havana

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Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1439138095
Total Pages : 349 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (391 download)

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Book Synopsis Last Dance in Havana by : Eugene Robinson

Download or read book Last Dance in Havana written by Eugene Robinson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-11-20 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In power for forty-four years and counting, Fidel Castro has done everything possible to define Cuba to the world and to itself -- yet not even he has been able to control the thoughts and dreams of his people. Those thoughts and dreams are the basis for what may become a post-Castro Cuba. To more fully understand the future of America's near neighbor, veteran reporter Eugene Robinson knew exactly where to look -- or rather, to listen. In this provocative work, Robinson takes us on a sweaty, pulsating, and lyrical tour of a country on the verge of revolution, using its musicians as a window into its present and future. Music is the mother's milk of Cuban culture. Cubans express their fondest hopes, their frustrations, even their political dissent, through music. Most Americans think only of salsa and the Buena Vista Social Club when they think of the music of Cuba, yet those styles are but a piece of a broad musical spectrum. Just as the West learned more about China after the Cultural Revolution by watching From Mao to Mozart, so will readers discover the real Cuba -- the living, breathing, dying, yet striving Cuba. Cuban music is both wildly exuberant and achingly melancholy. A thick stew of African and European elements, it is astoundingly rich and influential to have come from such a tiny island. From rap stars who defy the government in their lyrics to violinists and pianists who attend the world's last Soviet-style conservatory to international pop stars who could make millions abroad yet choose to stay and work for peanuts, Robinson introduces us to unforgettable characters who happily bring him into their homes and backstage discussions. Despite Castro's attempts to shut down nightclubs, obstruct artists, and subsidize only what he wants, the musicians and dancers of Cuba cannot stop, much less behave. Cubans move through their complicated lives the way they move on the dance floor, dashing and darting and spinning on a dime, seducing joy and fulfillment and next week's supply of food out of a broken system. Then at night they take to the real dance floors and invent fantastic new steps. Last Dance in Havana is heartwrenching, yet ultimately as joyous and hopeful as a rocking club late on a Saturday night.

Waiting for Snow in Havana

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Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 0743245709
Total Pages : 402 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (432 download)

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Book Synopsis Waiting for Snow in Havana by : Carlos Eire

Download or read book Waiting for Snow in Havana written by Carlos Eire and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2003-02-05 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Have mercy on me, Lord, I am Cuban.” In 1962, Carlos Eire was one of 14,000 children airlifted out of Havana—exiled from his family, his country, and his own childhood by Fidel Castro’s revolution. Winner of the National Book Award, this stunning memoir is a vibrant and evocative look at Latin America from a child’s unforgettable experience. Waiting for Snow in Havana is both an exorcism and an ode to a paradise lost. For the Cuba of Carlos’s youth—with its lizards and turquoise seas and sun-drenched siestas—becomes an island of condemnation once a cigar-smoking guerrilla named Fidel Castro ousts President Batista on January 1, 1959. Suddenly the music in the streets sounds like gunfire. Christmas is made illegal, political dissent leads to imprisonment, and too many of Carlos’s friends are leaving Cuba for a place as far away and unthinkable as the United States. Carlos will end up there, too, and fulfill his mother’s dreams by becoming a modern American man—even if his soul remains in the country he left behind. Narrated with the urgency of a confession, Waiting for Snow in Havana is a eulogy for a native land and a loving testament to the collective spirit of Cubans everywhere.

Leaving Little Havana

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Publisher : Beating Windward Press
ISBN 13 : 1940761050
Total Pages : 348 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (47 download)

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Book Synopsis Leaving Little Havana by : Cecilia M Fernandez

Download or read book Leaving Little Havana written by Cecilia M Fernandez and published by Beating Windward Press. This book was released on 2015-01-06 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Revolution uprooted six-year-old Cecilia from her comfortable middle-class Cuban home and dropped her into the low-income neighborhood of Miami’s Little Havana. Her philandering father focused on rebuilding his career, chasing the American promise of wealth and freedom from the past. Her mother spiraled into madness trying to hold the family together and get him back. Neglected and trapped, Cecilia rebelled against her conservative culture and embraced the 1960s counter-culture - seeking love, attention and a place of her own in America. But immigrant children either thrive or self-destruct in a new land. How will Cecilia beat the odds? While most memoirs by Cuban-Americans revolve around childhood scenes in Cuba and explore the experiences of a young man, Leaving Little Havana is the first refugee memoir to focus on a Cuban girl growing up in America, rising above the obstacles and clearing a path to her American Dream. “Leaving Little Havana is the compelling story of a Cuban girl seeking a new life in the U.S. with her family as the Cuban revolution unfolds in the early sixties. 'Cecilita’s' personal account, and sexual awakening, is transparent, sad, and triumphant, sprinkled with anecdotes of an emerging Cuban-American landscape. In short, this book is a colorful reminiscence of historical scenes on both sides of the Straits of Florida, providing closure to a Cuban American journalist coming to terms with her turbulent past.” - Guarione M. Diaz, President Emeritus, Cuban American National Council “Cecilia Fernandez’s memoir of growing up Cuban in Miami is not only fascinating reading, it tells more about the story of Cubans in this U.S. than a truckload of sociology textbooks - and is a thousand times more entertaining!” - Dan Wakefield, author of New York in the Fifties “Leaving Little Havana is a candid, touching, and engaging memoir of a young Cuban exile’s coming of age. Cecilia Fernandez writes with passion and intensity, both of her missteps and her triumphs, casting fresh light on the American experience in the process.” - Les Standiford, author of Havana Run and Bringing Adam Home “Cecilia Fernandez gives us a coming of age story told with wide open eyes and vivid details of growing up in Little Havana. Broken-hearted more times than she can count, she gradually finds a path to new beginnings and the infinite promises of the American Dream. A poignant and important chronicle of the Miami Cuban immigrant journey.” - Ruth Behar, author of Traveling Heavy: A Memoir in Between Journeys “Every so often along comes a book that seizes you by the collar and arrests you on the spot. From page one, Leaving Little Havana is a brilliant, voice-driven book that will make your heart skip a few beats. My experience reading this book was similar to the first time I read The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros when you instantly know you are reading a classic, a story so achingly beautiful and unforgettable you relish every last word as if it were the buzzing of a hummingbird at your lips feeding you honey. This book is about family, about what happens to family in exile, about how people come into a great world of struggle and manage to get by and survive. The author has a great gift for capturing that world-known enclave of Miami we love and call Little Havana. This might be the book that puts it on the literary map for good and forever.” - Virgil Suárez, author of Latin Jazz, The Cutter, and 90 Miles: Selected and New Poems

Leaving Havana

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Author :
Publisher : AuthorHouse
ISBN 13 : 1452086079
Total Pages : 238 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (52 download)

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Book Synopsis Leaving Havana by : Conchita Hernandez Hicks

Download or read book Leaving Havana written by Conchita Hernandez Hicks and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2011-02 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cuba was a playground for the wealthy in the 1950s. It was a place to bask in the sun during the day, and enjoy many fine nightclubs, restaurants, theaters, and casinos after the sun went down. Many wealthy Americans traveled to Cuba for both business and pleasure. In January of 1959, everything changed. I was a little girl in Cuba at that time. I was living a life of luxury with practically anything that my little heart desired. My family had a chauffeur and homes in the city, in the country, and at the beach. I had my own nanny. I had parents and grandparents that loved me and lived close by so that I could see them almost every day. I was truly living a fairy-tale existence. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, my world came crashing down around me. Fidel Castro took over Cuba and made devastating changes to the country - and to the lives of those who lived there. The fairy tale quickly came to an end. Many difficult decisions had to be made by my parents and by many others. The world that we knew no longer existed. We had to leave loved ones and property behind. We had to move forward to a new life in a different country, with different customs, and a different language - and there was no turning back.

This Is Cuba

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Author :
Publisher : Westview Press
ISBN 13 : 9780813342245
Total Pages : 328 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (422 download)

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Book Synopsis This Is Cuba by : Ben Corbett

Download or read book This Is Cuba written by Ben Corbett and published by Westview Press. This book was released on 2004-03-31 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With personal stories that depict a people torn between following the directives of their government and finding a way to better their lot, journalist Ben Corbett gives readers the daily life of many considered outlaws by Castro's regime.

Reyita

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Publisher : Duke University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780822325932
Total Pages : 196 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (259 download)

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Book Synopsis Reyita by : María de los Reyes Castillo Bueno

Download or read book Reyita written by María de los Reyes Castillo Bueno and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Assisted by her daughter, Daisy Rubiera Castillo, the author recounts her life as a black woman struggling with prejudice and change in Cuba over the span of 90 years. Known as "Reyita", Maria de Los Reyes Castillo Bueno starts her story with the abduction of her grandmother by slave traders and shares her own experiences as a mother, laborer, and revolutionary.

Beans and Rice

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Publisher : iUniverse
ISBN 13 : 0595178103
Total Pages : 210 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (951 download)

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Book Synopsis Beans and Rice by : Martha Russ

Download or read book Beans and Rice written by Martha Russ and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2001 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author has taken a semi-humorous look at a tragic chapter in history: She survived the Cuban Revolution, leaving her country, and being raised in a different country—but she's still not sure of what she is…

Governing Spirits

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Publisher : Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN 13 : 080788894X
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (78 download)

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Book Synopsis Governing Spirits by : Reinaldo L. Román

Download or read book Governing Spirits written by Reinaldo L. Román and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2009-11-30 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Freedom of religion did not come easily to Cuba or Puerto Rico. Only after the arrival of American troops during the Spanish-American War were non-Catholics permitted to practice their religions openly and to proselytize. When government efforts to ensure freedom of worship began, reformers on both islands rejoiced, believing that an era of regeneration and modernization was upon them. But as new laws went into effect, critics voiced their dismay at the rise of popular religions. Reinaldo L. Roman explores the changing relationship between regulators and practitioners in neocolonial Cuba and Puerto Rico. Spiritism, Santeria, and other African-derived traditions were typically characterized in sensational fashion by the popular press as "a plague of superstition." Examining seven episodes between 1898 and the Cuban Revolution when the public demanded official actions against "misbelief," Roman finds that when outbreaks of superstition were debated, matters of citizenship were usually at stake. He links the circulation of spectacular charges of witchcraft and miracle-making to anxieties surrounding newly expanded citizenries that included people of color. Governing Spirits also contributes to the understanding of vernacular religions by moving beyond questions of national or traditional origins to illuminate how boundaries among hybrid practices evolved in a process of historical contingencies.

Adios, Havana

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Author :
Publisher : Outskirts Press, Inc.
ISBN 13 : 1598000489
Total Pages : 271 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (98 download)

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Book Synopsis Adios, Havana by : Andrew J. Rodriguez

Download or read book Adios, Havana written by Andrew J. Rodriguez and published by Outskirts Press, Inc.. This book was released on 2005 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Havana . . . lilting rumbas, caf con leche, sultry sea breezes. Sparkling white beaches by day, scintillating nightclubs after dark. This sophisticated, international capital was the crown jewel of an island paradise-until the idealism that fed the Cuban Revolution yielded a nightmare of soul-crushing dictatorship. Adios, Havana is a true account of romance and peril, adventure and patriotism. Fueled by love-love of family, of country, and of each other-a young couple must face the most wrenching of choices: remain in the country they cherish, lose the wealth and position their families strove for generations to attain, and watch their children grow up impoverished under a terrifying regime; or risk escaping with no money or possessions and leave behind all they have ever known to begin a new life in a strange land. A legacy to future generations, this memoir is intended to remind readers of the fragility of freedom . . . to describe the disintegration of a prosperous civilized society and offer counsel on how to prevent a similar catastrophe from happening in America . . . and to show how and why penniless refugees flourish in the land of the free-why anyone who resists oppression would be driven to tell his beloved homeland, Adios.