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"The essay "The Afro-Cuban Festival 'Day of the Kings"' by Fernando Ortiz, founder of Afro-Cuban studies, describes how, as in Brazil, Catholic priests and the colonial government as early as 1573 allowed and encouraged the African slaves to celebrate Epiphany, the Festival of the Three Kings...Free people joined in and the dances, music and costumes paraded by the various eyewitnesses demonstrate how early and how immense were the African contributions to what was to become the carnival of the African Diaspora. "Bettelheim's second essay, The Tumba Francesa and Tajona of Santiago de Cuba,' describes two...groups which descend from the Creole-speaking Hatians called Franceses. In their long history of race pride, revolt and rebellion, is a previously unknown revelation of diasporic history. The intense interplay of sub-rosa and African-connected groups is perhaps the most important revelation made by these essays. ... Read more

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Press and Reviews for Cuban festivals
"The essay "The Afro-Cuban Festival 'Day of the Kings'" by Fernando Ortiz, founder of Afro-Cuban studies, describes how, as in Brazil, Catholic priests and the colonial government as early as 1573 allowed and encouraged the African slaves to celebrate Epiphany, the Festival of the Three Kings...Free people joined in and the dances, music and costumes paraded by the various eyewitnesses demonstrate how early and how immense were the African contributions to what was to become the carnival of the African Diaspora.

"Bettelheim's second essay, 'The Tumba Francesa and Tajona of Santiago de Cuba,' describes two...groups which descend from the Creole-speaking Hatians called Franceses. In their long history of race pride, revolt and rebellion, is a previously unknown revelation of diasporic history. The intense interplay of sub-rosa and African-connected groups is perhaps the most important revelation made by these essays."

"Thirty-six illustrations from the original Spanish Ortiz edition and twenty-six field photographs by Judith Bettelheim...help immeasurably to bring these little-known secular rituals to life."
--New West Indian Guide

This invaluable anthology...is required reading for those interested in Cuba's history, religious forms, and popular culture.
--Cuba Update

"Carnival in Santiago...here, with her (Bettelheim's) own two essays, the anthology really comes to life."
--African Arts ... Read more

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This unusual collaboration between a Cuban novelist and a Canadian professor offers uncensored and frank interviews with prominent figures of contemporary Cuban cultural life, from a Grammy-winning jazz artist to world-class filmmakers and actors, writers, ballet dancers, and dramatists. The thirteen people interviewed played a leading role in cultural life during the years of the revolutionary process and today are considered official Cuban figures. ... Read more

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With this masterful work, Louis A. Pĩrez Jr. transforms the way we view Cuba and its relationship with the United States. On Becoming Cuban is a sweeping cultural history of the sustained encounter between the peoples of the two countries and of the ways that this encounter helped shape Cubans' identity, nationality, and sense of modernity from the early 1850s until the revolution of 1959.

Using an enormous range of Cuban and U.S. sources&#151from archival records and oral interviews to popular magazines, novels, and motion pictures&#151Pĩrez reveals a powerful web of everyday, bilateral connections between the United States and Cuba and shows how U.S. cultural forms had a critical influence on the development of Cubans' sense of themselves as a people and as a nation. He also articulates the cultural context for the revolution that erupted in Cuba in 1959. In the middle of the twentieth century, Pĩrez argues, when economic hard times and political crises combined to make Cubans painfully aware that their American-influenced expectations of prosperity and modernity would not be realized, the stage was set for revolution. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

"On becoming a corrupt cuban"
This is the same old story of a group of elite people who had it all; made a mess of the country, ruined the Island for the restwith their corrupt waysand abusive system that brought communism in the island; and later all of them running away like scared coward rats to the United States. It's on becoming a Cuban is very simple and easy, especially when they can do whatever they want in a country that is very lenient to their behavior, and opened the doors for their protection too! All you have to do is runaway from the government of the Island, come to the United States, abuse and take advantage of the system, by hiding behind the U. S. rights and naturalization citizenship, get elected for public office, increase the taxes and their salary while they steal the public's money, keep the wages low, exploit their own kind and everyone else, set a bad example to others, sell drugs, become corrupt, alcoholic, permit immorality, disorder in the city, and much more in the name of "Anticommunism". Cubans talk too much, beat around the bush, and at the end they have not accomplished anything.It's a shame because Cubans are good for business, and hard workers, and are very intelligent. However, they can't hold any position of authority in the government, they immediately become corrupt and inflated with pride thinking that they already own the place and are superior to everybody. The Americans should put these officials behind bars, remove them from public office, send them all back to the Island and have the Castro regime give them an attitude adjustment. That way they will learn to appreciate what they have in the United States, especially in Miami and respect the laws of a country that is noble and kind, and that gave them refuge when the rest of the world closed the doors to them and did not want them as worms." It's embarrassing to all of the rest of the Law abiding Cuban Americans who work hard to earn their living and appreciate what this country is doing for them."A man must know its limitations"!

Cuban-Americans Must Read this book
Castro's bloody footprint on Cuba's back will soon be over, and the re-construction will then begin.

Before that happens, this book - together with a few more - should be read by those who hope to stake a claim on the future of that island.

The book is educational and informative, although it seems to put a lot of emphasis on the upper middle class of pre-Castro Cuba and little on the lower classes, with some small exceptions on the issue of race and Afro-Cubans. Too much is also made of Desi Arnaz's negative portrayal of Cuban men, although I never knew until I read this book that Eamon de Valera was half Cuban and that the Capote in Truman was Cuban.

But it does hit the nail right on the head on the formula via which the Cuban culture and character - so different from other Latin American countries - was formed.

The powerful influence of the USA and all things American upon the island may have been somewhat blown out of proportion (especially when not brought to a lower class context), but it was (and is) nonetheless important and a key ingridient in the make-up of the modern Cuban.

I suspect that when Cuba opens up to the world, those Cubans who remained in the prison island will soon re-join the interrupted life of a island full of paradoxes, brilliant thinkers and an unfortunate history of dictators and bloodshed. And perhaps the marriage between Castro's Afro-Cuba and the exile's mostly white-Cuba will result not in a baptism of fire (or blood) but in an incorporation of lessons learned in 50 years of modern exile with the astounding eneregy and creativity of the Cuban people.

On Becoming a Member of the Privileged Class in Havana
That should be the title of this book. The author makes the same mistake many have made: to them Havana=Cuba. If it happened in Havana, it must be so in the rest of the island. From the beginning of the book he attributes to all Cubans what really applies to the upper class of Havana: travelling to the U.S. on vacation; sending their children to be educated on the U.S.; shopping sprees in New York; conducting their businesses on the American model, etc.
I was born in Camagüey and lived in Oriente and still have family in Cuba and I never heard of, much less witnessed many of the "facts" he gives. I've checked with several other Cubans, older than I from all over the island, about some of the authors assertions and everyone assures me Cubans did not celebrate Thanksgiving; kids did not get toys on December 25 (it was January 6); few Cubans spoke English, many Americans spoke Spanish; men did not stop flirting with "mulatas" in favor of blondes; and American supermarkets did not obliterate the neighborhood bodega. Perhaps that's the way it was in the Americanized Vedado neighborhood.
The author quotes from many novels and short stories. The writings of Cuban revolutionaries, the constitution written for the formation of the Cuban nation during the 10-year war, the effects of that 10-year war, and the effects of the war of independence on Cubans' idea of nationality are practically ignored. It seems we Cubans obtained all notion of who we are from the U.S.
Sociologist-like, he ascribes deeper meaning to all kinds of things; for example: the Cubans' enthusiastic adoption of baseball becomes an anti-Spanish, pro-feminist protest and a condemnation of Bullfighting as a bloody, colonial sport. How about this: baseball was fun and was not only a spectator sport, even kids could play it pretty much anywhere. Can't do that with a bull fight. As for rebelling against bloody, primitive sports: cockfighting has been part of Cuba's "sports" life from the colonial period.
It goes on and on. True there are neat facts in there: the early adoption of technology in Cuba, the symbiotic relationship between the U.S. and Cuba and a few other interesting tid bits. But his interpretation of the American influence in the notion of what it means to be Cuban is skewed. I must admit it got to me: I couldn't finish the book. I stopped at Chapter 6 because I anticipated what was coming: Fidel's revolution puts a stop to all that and now Cubans have a more real view of who they are. Am I right? Is that the punch line?
No one can deny the influence of the U.S. on Cuba. Its proximity, and its intervention in Cuban affairs garanteed that, but this book is replete with misinterpretations or are they misrepresentations?.
Can't recommend it.

On becoming russian: after 1959
This book helped me very much as a source of data on events that happened way before my time, mainly because in Castro's Cuba most of this has been distorted, or in many cases, access has been totally impossible. I found the book very interesting and educational at the same time, very helpful also in making me understand better our influences and roots, as well as that tremendous link, for good or bad, that always existed with the United States and that Castro always persisted and portrayed as something not important and besides , very negative. However I have my problems with this book , especially on the last chapters, the revolution era, which is the one I lived, and know the most. I'm 36 now, and lived 25 years in Cuba, so I have a pretty clear knowledge of how things were and are during this years of "revolution". As many other non-cuban authors, Perez seem to have a problem criticizing the regime for what it's been responsible and on the other hand puts most of the blame on the United states, I think than from a fear point of view we got more positive things than negative ones from them. Corruption and mishandling of the government is constantly mentioned during the republic period; but very little is said about castro's failures. Nothing is said about the assassination and abuses that took place during those first years of revolution, practice that has continued during all these years. Unfortunately it was during these years that many liberals and idealist turned a blind eye to what was happening in the island. Nobody wanted to talk about what was really happening and preferred to accept the idea that the US were to blame for the rupture in the relationships between both countries. Still today not many people know about the darkest years of the revolution, a good example is that Ernesto"che" Guevara is still considered by many as a modern Quixote, a romanticized revolutionary that fought the imperialism in order to built a better world, when in reality he was nothing but a selfish murderer who committed all kind of atrocities, mostly in my country, and played a leading role in the process that turned the revolution into that aberrant regime that has ruled the country for more than four decades. So what I found negative about this book is that not giving a fair and balanced analysis on this part of the Cuban history affects the credibility of what was said about the rest of it. A good book for those who would like to read a least detailed but very fair analysis is" journey to the heart of Cuba" by Carlos A. Montaner.

Not entirely accurate
The trouble with scholars and academics is their middle-class presumption that the world is middle-class.This book suffers from this presumption.
I married a Cuban, have been to Cuba five times, and know that there are both rich and poor in that country--just as there are in the U.S.There are Cubans in government and baseball stars and artists with access to dollars who are chauffered in their Benzes, live in gated mansions with electric fences, and swim in their backyard pools.In the meantime, my relatives live without running water or a phone.They have an extension cord leading from the neighbor's house to get electricity.When the annual hurricane hits, they live in the local secondary school's gymnasium, along with everyone else in their neighborhood in Cerro who lives in a plywood house.
Let's decide not to idealize the Revolution.
I'm not on the side of the anti-Castro supporters in Miami (I'm not Cuban)--I think free quality healthcare and education is an amazing achievement.And despite the last ten years of intense lack of material help since the Soviet Union dissolved, Cubans have an amazing stamina and love of life that gives them the hope to survive.
But let's not--especially for the academics who travel to Cuba and see only the middle class Cubans living there--idealize the country.Reader:check out "Afro-Cuban Voices" to get another side of the story. ... Read more

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More than 150 years ago, the first Chinese contract laborers ("coolies") arrived in Cuba to work the colonial plantations. Eventually, over 150,000 Chinese immigrated to the island, and their presence has had a profound effect on all aspects of Cuban cultural production, from food to books to painting.Ignacio Lopez-Calvo's interpretations often go against the grain of earlier research, refusing to conceive of Cuban identity either in terms of a bipolar black/white opposition or an idyllic and harmonious process of miscegenation. He also counters traditional representations of chinos mambises, Chinese immigrants who fought for Cuba in the Wars of Independence against Spain.Imaging the Chinese in Cuban Literature and Culture fills a void in literary criticism, breaking new ground within the small field of Sino-Cuban studies. It is destined to set the tone for years to come. ... Read more

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This is the first sweeping account ofHavana and its cultural history in English. The author introduces us to a marginal city with roots in the sixteenth century, taking us through the periods when it was a sugar boomtown, pulled between empires, a decadent metropolis, a site of both cultural revolution and relative stagnation during the development of the Revolution to its revival in the 1990s. Cosmopolitan playground and nationalist vanguard, Havana has developed its own original style while at the same time both reflecting and directing the complicated politics of the whole of Cuba. This book offers a concise guide to one of the most intriguing cities of the twenty-first century.
... Read more

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This digital document is an article from World Literature Today, published by University of Oklahoma on June 22, 2000. The length of the article is 540 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: My Own Private Cuba: Essays on Cuban Literature and Culture.(Review)
Author: William L. Siemens
Publication: World Literature Today (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 2000
Publisher: University of Oklahoma
Volume: 74Issue: 3Page: 681

Article Type: Book Review

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This digital document is an article from Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, published by Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies on July 1, 2007. The length of the article is 3038 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Music and artistic production in post-revolutionary Cuba.(Cuba Represent! Cuban Arts, State Power, and the Making of New Revolutionary Cultures)(From Afro-Cuban Rhythms to Latin Jazz)(Music & Revolution: Cultural Change in Socialist Cuba)(Book review)
Author: Alexandrine Boudreault-Fournier
Publication: Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies (Magazine/Journal)
Date: July 1, 2007
Publisher: Canadian Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Volume: 32Issue: 64Page: 215(9)

Article Type: Book review

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from The Antioch Review, published by Thomson Gale on September 22, 2004. The length of the article is 3937 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: The Tampa Cubans and the culture of exile.(Biography)
Author: Pablo Medina
Publication: The Antioch Review (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 22, 2004
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 62Issue: 4Page: 635(9)

Article Type: Biography

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This digital document is an article from Siempre!, published by Edicional Siempre on May 20, 1999. The length of the article is 822 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Recuento.(Encuentro de la Cultura Cubana, revista; extracto)(TT: Retelling.)(TA: Cuban Culture Encounter, magazine; excerpt)(Extracto)
Author: Sealtiel Alatriste
Publication: Siempre! (Refereed)
Date: May 20, 1999
Publisher: Edicional Siempre
Volume: 45Issue: 2396Page: 70

Article Type: Extracto

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Chapters: Music of Cuba. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 119. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Caribbean island of Cuba has developed a wide range of creolized musical styles, based on its cultural origins in Europe and Africa. Since the nineteenth century its music has been hugely popular and influential throughout the world. It has been perhaps the most popular form of world music since the introduction of recording technology. The music of Cuba, including the instruments and the dances, is mostly of European (Spanish) and African origin. Most forms of the present day are creolized fusions and mixtures of these two great sources. Almost nothing remains of the original Indian traditions, except for tobacco, which for the Taino was a ritual drug. Some of the place names are Indian in origin, such as Guanabacoa, and Cuba is a contraction of Cubanacan, meaning a dwelling-place. Large numbers of African slaves and European (mostly Spanish) immigrants came to Cuba and brought their own forms of music to the island. European dances and folk musics included zapateo, fandango, paso doble and retambico. Later, northern European forms like minuet, gavotte, mazurka, contradanza, and the waltz appeared among urban whites. There was also an immigration of Chinese indentured laborers later in the 19th century. Fernando Ortíz, the first great Cuban folklorist, described Cuba's musical innovations as arising from the interplay ('transculturation') between African slaves settled on large sugar plantations and Spaniards or Canary Islanders who grew tobacco on small farms. The African slaves and their descendants made many percussion instruments and preserved rhythms they had known in their homeland. The most important instruments were the drums, of which there were originally about fifty diffe...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=240761 ... Read more

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Chapters: Cuban National Ballet. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 58. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Cuban National Ballet (Spanish: ) is a classical ballet company based at the Great Theatre of Havana in Havana, Cuba. Founded by the Cuban Prima Ballerina Assoluta, Alicia Alonso in 1948, it has become recognised as one of the world's leading ballet companies. The official school of the company is the Cuban National Ballet School. Ballet Nacional de Cuba performing in the Great Theater of HavanaThe company was founded by Alicia Alonso, her husband Fernando and Fernando's brother Alberto on October 28, 1948 as Alicia Alonso Ballet Company. Two years later, a school was established to create a strong artistic vision and promote the talents of young Cuban dancers. Alicia Alonso set a tradition of Romantic and Classical excellence while encouraging the development of new choreography. Although the school was thriving artistically, it struggled financially. When Fidel Castro took control of Cuba in 1959, he had a commitment to level the social structure and to make the arts available to everyone. The old government was out and the new hope was coming for the arts and the ballet in Cuba, recalled Margarita de Saá, former BNC ballerina. The coming of the Revolution, marked the beginning of a new stage for the Cuban ballet, Castro gave $200,000 to Alonso, a supporter of the revolution. With state funding, suddenly the ballet became important to the country and its identity. That year, as a part of a new cultural program, the company was reorganized and it took the name of National Ballet of Cuba that has had a vertiginous development from that moment on, enriching its repertory and promoting the development of new dancers, choreographers, professors and creators. Combined with other ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=3043015 ... Read more