A Trans-Atlantic Encounter---Special Period Migration and La Nueva Espana: Geographies and Cultural Production of the Cuban Velvet Exile in Contemporary Spain
by Piney, Jessica, Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, 2011, 370 pages; 3493092

Abstract:

My dissertation, interdisciplinary in scope, documents the post-1990 Cuban diaspora and its cultural production in Spain. Specifically, I focus on the Velvet Exile, a migratory wave whose immigration to Spain is spurred by the island's economic demise after the collapse of the Soviet Union. My analysis is framed by the overarching frameworks of globalization and 'coloniality of power'—the recreation of colonial forms of domination in a post-colonial world. In the first chapter, I engage in historical analysis to frame the trans-Atlantic relations between Spain and Cuba through migratory movements since the Conquest. In the second chapter, I turn to ethnographic methods and geography (a discussion of space) to map the Cuban presence in Madrid. Engaging with Michel de Certeau's "Walking in the City" (from The Practices of Everyday Life), I analyze locations established in the Spanish capital during the 1990s that serve as Cuban spaces, contrasting the commercialized places (La Negra Tomasa) with private and public ones serving the community as gathering spaces (La Fundación Hispano-Cubana) and cultural centers (Bar Yemayá). The third chapter examines the Madrid-based musical production of the Cuban hip hop group Orishas and the rock fusion group Habana Abierta. Following Pierre Bourdieu's theorizations about the industry of cultural production, I discuss the needs of a global market and how those translate in selling Cuban music. Chapters 4 and 5 are dedicated to filmic co-productions, addressing the themes of artistic compromise in the workings of the culture industry as seen in Benito Zambrano's narrative film Habana Blues (2005) and Arturo Sotto Díaz and Jorge Perugorría's documentary Habana Abierta (2002). The fifth chapter's singular case study of Alexis Valdés's film Un rey en la Habana (2005) examines topics of imperial nostalgia—the desire to establish continuity with the colonial past—and the use of camp to subvert its discourses. Chapter 6 turns to Cuban literary productions published in Barcelona. Framed by Homi Bhahba's work on stereotypes, the focus is on Cuban women's experience as diasporic subjects in contemporary Madrid as seen in the novels Maldita danza (2002) by Alexis Díaz-Pimienta and Jineteras (2003) by Lissette Bustamante.

 
AdviserLawrence M. La@Fountain-Stokes
SchoolUNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
SourceDAI/A 73-05, p. , Feb 2012
Source TypeDissertation
SubjectsCaribbean literature; Music; Caribbean studies; Film studies
Publication Number3493092
Adobe PDF Access the complete dissertation:
 

» Find an electronic copy at your library.
  Use the link below to access a full citation record of this graduate work:
  http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl%3furl_ver=Z39.88-2004%26res_dat=xri:pqdiss%26rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation%26rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3493092
  If your library subscribes to the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) database, you may be entitled to a free electronic version of this graduate work. If not, you will have the option to purchase one, and access a 24 page preview for free (if available).

About ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
With over 2.3 million records, the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) database is the most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses in the world. It is the database of record for graduate research.

The database includes citations of graduate works ranging from the first U.S. dissertation, accepted in 1861, to those accepted as recently as last semester. Of the 2.3 million graduate works included in the database, ProQuest offers more than 1.9 million in full text formats. Of those, over 860,000 are available in PDF format. More than 60,000 dissertations and theses are added to the database each year.

If you have questions, please feel free to visit the ProQuest Web site - http://www.proquest.com - or call ProQuest Hotline Customer Support at 1-800-521-3042.