A Cultural History of Cuba During the U.S. Occupation, 1898 – 1902

Marial Iglesias Utset’s recent publication focuses on the lived experience of Cuban citizens during the four years of US occupation following the wars of independence, and specifically on the expression of nationalist sentiment during that period on the part of the masses. She is interested in how the population negotiated and reacted to a foreign power on the island, exploring this issue through the analysis of numerous sources, some of them decidedly atypical and creative. The text focuses on the multiple, frequently symbolic ways that the population expressed their cubanía and local pride in oppositional terms while simultaneously adapting or conforming to norms, policies, and cultural practices imposed from the United States. The book represents a sophisticated achievement, both in terms of the extent and breadth of the archival materials consulted and in terms of its reading of history. The writing style is clear and easy to follow and could work well in graduate courses or upper-division undergraduate courses.As mentioned, Iglesias Utset makes a point of moving beyond standard print sources such as books and journals, the typical purview of the historian. Less common material she consults include the texts of popular décimas and coplas (Spanish-derived poetic forms), and guarachas (a form of popular music); private correspondence; commercial advertisements and other printed ephemera; almanacs; and various forms of popular material culture (clothing, decorations, banners, plaques, museum collections, burial markers), as well as prints and photographs. She makes the point that at the turn of the twentieth century a relatively small percentage of the Cuban population knew how to read or write, and she thus stresses the importance of considering sources other than print in order to evaluate the attitudes and motivations of the populace.Most chapters of the book represent case studies of the “micro-negotiations” surrounding Cuba’s nationalist project. The author discusses sites of negotiation including educational policy (Should English be a mandatory part of the curriculum? Should Spanish be abolished? How should the history of the wars of independence be described, and especially the role of the United States?); public celebrations (Should Catholic or Spanish-derived holidays be perpetuated? Should US holidays be adopted? Should others be created?); and what names should be given to prominent streets, buildings, and public spaces (Which heroes should be remembered and which forgotten?). The latter represents an especially interesting case in which struggles for autonomy and sovereignty played themselves out not only in social, political, and intellectual spheres but in the tangible, physical sphere. The author considers debates surrounding the creation of new monuments (as well as the tearing down of existing ones), and in more general terms what to replace the symbols of Spanish colonial authority with during the “limbo years” of North American occupation.Iglesias Utset identifies three primary groups involved in nationalist debates who competed for ascendancy: elite Cuban actors, frequently championing traditions of the colonial past or “gentrified” versions of local heritage; the North American government and military with imperialist designs; and the Cuban masses, expressing “assertions of a simmering nationalist will, expressed in the desire to [found] an independent nation” (p. 30). Frequently, the views of the masses as to how one might most appropriately express cubanía varied greatly from that of elites, and in many cases their celebrations and other practices were openly condemned by the Cuban leadership. Significantly, the author documents numerous lines of fracture even within the popular classes, especially along lines of race, class, and gender. She also discusses a process of “whitewashing” of the revolutionary experience on the part of historians and politicians of the day that played down racism, internal division, regional difference, and other factors in an effort to unify public sentiment.The study dialogues nicely with recent theorists in the area of nationalism such as Michael Herzfeld, as well as more tried-and-true authors (Benedict Anderson, Eric Hobsbawm, etc.). But it contributes directly to such debates as well by focusing on the symbolic strategies of everyday life on the part of the common people as juxtaposed against official discourse and policy. In this sense, the book does a wonderful job of analyzing the multiple fronts on which cultural dominance is negotiated, and the central role that culture can play in processes of political control. It brings to life a sense of the constant maneuverings of various Cuban actors in the face of US policy, showing how actively resistant many of their actions were. Similarly, the study elaborates notions of Jürgen Habermas’s public sphere (i.e., p. 128) by emphasizing the extent to which mass communication and resistance to authority can take place outside the realm of print media.Finally, the book is noteworthy in that it relies on print sources from rural Cuba, something that many historians have failed to do in the past. The author emphasizes the role played by provincial municipal councils, patriotic associations, and veterans’ clubs in constructing a Cuban national identity, noting that they often assumed a more oppositional and progressive posture than seen in the capital. In all, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Iglesias Utset’s study and commend her for an innovative contribution to Cuban historiography

Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Ephemera · Independence (probability theory) · Literature · Media studies · Period (music) · Political science · Population · Power (physics) · Pride · Reading (process) · Sociology · Style (visual arts) · Cuban History and Society · History · Latin American and Latino Studies · Law

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