On Archival Hauntings and Unthinkable Visibilities: The Racial and Sexual Politics of 19th and early 20th c. Diasporic Cubanidades

This talk borrows from my book, "Suspect Freedoms: The Racial and Sexual Politics of Cubanidad in New York, 1823-1957," (NYU Press, December 2016), which examines the racial and sexual politics of diasporic Cubanidades. A... [ view full abstract ]

This talk borrows from my book, "Suspect Freedoms: The Racial and Sexual Politics of Cubanidad in New York, 1823-1957," (NYU Press, December 2016), which examines the racial and sexual politics of diasporic Cubanidades. A critical element of my research is reconfiguring sources and questioning what is archived, what is not, and why. Why are some historical narratives acceptable and others not? What does it mean to write a history that centers the politics of production and analysis at the same time that you construct alternative narratives? How do these interventions change how we think about and write Latina/o histories, especially in regards to blackness?

I am also interested in examining how historical discourse and productions are influenced by 19th c. territoriality, which in the case of Cuba, positioned the island as one that "welcomed U.S. control," regardless of revolution and the multiple wars for independence. How does that narrative further change when we include the anxieties surrounding the Haitian Revolution, the role of migrant Afro-Cuban revolutionaries in constructing transnationalist coalitions, and the powerful, yet rarely discussed role of labor and labor organizing--especially post-emancipation definitions of labor, in articulating post-war freedoms.