Cuban Catholics In The United States, 1960-1980: Exile And Integration Project Muse Upcc Books

Everyday life for Cubans in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s involved an intimate interaction between commitment to an exile identity and reluctant integration into a new society. For Catholic Cuban exiles, their faith provided a filter through which they analyzed and understood both their exile and their ethnic identities. Catholicism offered the exiles continuity: a community of faith, a place to gather, a sense of legitimacy as a people. Religion exerted a major influence on the beliefs and actions of Cuban exiles as they integrated into U.S. culture and tried at the same time to make sense of events in their homeland. Cuban Catholics in the United States, 1960-1980 examines all these facets of the exile and integration process among Catholics, primarily in south Florida, but the voices of others across the United States, Latin America, and Europe also enter the story. The personal papers of exiles, their books and pamphlets, newspaper articles, government archives, and personal interviews provide the historical data for this book. In his thorough examination Gerald E. Poyo provides insights not only for this community but for other faith-based exile communities. Everyday life for Cubans in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s involved an intimate interaction between commitment to an exile identity and reluctant integration into a new society. Drawing on the personal papers of exiles, their books and pamphlets, newspaper articles, government archives, and personal interviews, Cuban Catholics in the United States, 1960-1980 examines the exile and integration process among Catholics. The story is set primarily in south Florida, but also includes voices of others in the United States, Latin America, and Europe. This examination of Catholics uncovers major themes that preoccupied Cubans during their first twenty years in exile.

About the Author:
Gerald E. Poyo is professor of history at St. Mary's University

Reform and revolution -- Betrayal and dissent -- Faith community -- Identity and ideology -- The social question -- "Just and necessary war"--Ethnicity and rights -- U.S. Hispanic Catholicism -- Dialogue Through personal papers of Cuban exiles, their books and pamphlets, newspaper articles, government archives, and personal interviews, Poyo reveals the identity of this faith-based community in exile.