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Cuban Color Classification and Identity Negotiation: Old Terms in a New World

Alfonso Wells, Shawn Michelle (2004) Cuban Color Classification and Identity Negotiation: Old Terms in a New World. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

This thesis analyzes how the Cuban Revolution's transnational discourse on blackness positively affected social attitudes, allowing color identity to be negotiated using color classification terms previously devalued. In the Caribbean and Latin America, most systems of social stratification based on color privilege "whiteness" both socially and culturally; therefore, individuals negotiate their identities with whiteness as the core element to be expressed. This dissertation examines how this paradigm has been overturned in Cuba so that "blackness" is now the featured aspect of identity. This is due in part to the popular response to the government's rhetoric which engages in an international political discourse of national identity designed to situate Cuba contextually in opposition to the United States in the global politics of color. This shift has occurred in a dialectic environment of continued negative essentialized images of Blacks although blackness itself is now en vogue. The dialogue that exists between state and popular forms of racial categorization serves to recontextualize the meanings of "blackness" and the values attached to it so that color classification terms which indicate blackness are assumed with facility in identity negotiation. In the past, the concepts of whitening and mestizaje (race mixture) were employed by the state with the goal of whitening the Cuban population so that Cuba would be perceived as a majority white country. Since the 1959 Revolution, however, the state has publicly claimed that Cuba is an Afro-Latin nation. This pronouncement has resulted in brown/mestizo/mulatto and not white as being the national ideal. The symbolic use of mestizaje in Cuban society and the fluidity inherent in the color classification system leaves space for manipulation from both ends of the color spectrum and permits Cubans from disparate groups to come together under a shared sense of identity. The ideology of the state and the popular perceptions of the symbolism that the mulatto represents were mediated by a color continuum, which in turn was used both by the state and the populace to construct, negotiate, maintain, and manipulate color identities. This study demonstrates that although color classification was not targeted by the government as an agent to convey blackness, it nevertheless does, and the shift in how identity is negotiated using racial categories can be viewed as the response of the populace to the state's otherwise silent dialogue on "race" and identity.


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Details

Item Type: University of Pittsburgh ETD
Status: Unpublished
Creators/Authors:
CreatorsEmailPitt UsernameORCID
Alfonso Wells, Shawn Michellesmwst20@pitt.eduSMWST20
ETD Committee:
TitleMemberEmail AddressPitt UsernameORCID
Committee ChairScaglion, Richardscaglion@pitt.eduSCAGLION
Committee MemberMcAllister, Carol
Committee MemberMcGlynn, Frank
Committee MemberNutini, Hugo
Committee MemberAdjaye, Joseph
Date: 24 June 2004
Date Type: Completion
Defense Date: 9 January 2004
Approval Date: 24 June 2004
Submission Date: 30 April 2004
Access Restriction: No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately.
Institution: University of Pittsburgh
Schools and Programs: Faculty of Arts and Sciences > Anthropology
Degree: PhD - Doctor of Philosophy
Thesis Type: Doctoral Dissertation
Refereed: Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords: classification; color; Cuba; identity; race
Other ID: http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04302004-100407/, etd-04302004-100407
Date Deposited: 10 Nov 2011 19:43
Last Modified: 15 Nov 2016 13:42
URI: http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/7737

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