Racial Politics in Post-Revolutionary Cuba

Mark Q Sawyer author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:28th Nov '05

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Racial Politics in Post-Revolutionary Cuba cover

This book analyzes the triumphs and failures of the Castro regime in the area of race relations. It places the Cuban revolution in a comparative and international framework and challenges arguments that the regime eliminated racial inequality or that it was profoundly racist. Through interviews, historical materials, and survey research, it provides a balanced view. The book maintains that Cuba has not been a racial democracy as some have argued. However, it also argues that Cuba has done more than any other society to eliminate racial inequality. The contemporary outlook of the book demonstrates how much of Cuban racial ideology was unchanged by the revolution. Thus, the current implementation of market reforms and in particular tourism has exacerbated racial inequalities. Finally, it holds that despite these shortcomings, the regime remains popular among blacks because they perceive their alternatives of the US and the Miami Exile community to be far worse.

"To my knowledge, Mark Sawyer's Racial Politics in Postrevolutionary Cuba is the first work that approaches that controversy-ridden problematique from as many convergent angles, all of which are deeply informed by a rich personal and not merely theoretical understanding of the subtle and multidimensional issues attached to racism as an historical and structural phenomena. Departing from the three traditional paradigmatic approaches to the question of race politics in Cuba-(continued underneath)
"Latin American exceptionalism, Marxian economicism and Black Nationalism Sawyer has broken new grounds that open up fresh analytical possibilities for the comprehension of race politics not solely in Cuba but in general. Indeed, one must keep in mind that, outside of the Haitian Revolution of 1804, the Cuban Revolution represented the most radical revolutionary experiment ever undertaken in race/class reconfiguration in the Western hemisphere. A brilliant analytical work, this book additionally provides a rare moment where objective scholarship and human sensibility fuse to give statistical data a truly human face." Carlos Moore, Author of Castro the Blacks and Africa
"Sawyer combines personal anecdotes, interviews, survey data analysis, and historical coverage of prominent events to illuminate the complex realities of race relations in Cuba. Highly recommended." Choice

  • Winner of Ralph Bunche Award - American Political Science Association 2007
  • Winner of W. E. B. DuBois Outstanding Book Award, National Conference of Black Political Scientists 2007

ISBN: 9780521848077

Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 16mm

Weight: 430g

222 pages