From Sugar to Revolution : Women’s Visions of Haiti, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic

Sovereignty. Sugar. Revolution. These are the three axes this book uses to link the works of contemporary women artists from Haiti—a country excluded in contemporary Latin American and Caribbean literary studies—the Dominican Republic, and Cuba. In From Sugar to Revolution: Women’s Visions of Haiti, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic , Myriam Chancy aims to show that Haiti’s exclusion is grounded in its historical role as a site of ontological defiance. Her premise is that writers Edwidge Danticat, Julia Alvarez, Zoé Valdés, Loida Maritza Pérez, Marilyn Bobes, Achy Obejas, Nancy Morejón, and visual artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons attempt to defy fears of “otherness” by assuming the role of “archaeologists of amnesia.” They seek to elucidate women’s variegated lives within the confining walls of their national identifications—identifications wholly defined as male. They reach beyond the confining limits of national borders to discuss gender, race, sexuality, and class in ways that render possible the linking of all three nations. Nations such as Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba are still locked in battles over self-determination, but, as Chancy demonstrates, women’s gendered revisionings may open doors to less exclusionary imaginings of social and political realities for Caribbean people in general. Preface The Stories We Cannot Tell Introduction ¿Y donde esta tu abuela?: On the Respective Racial (Mis)Identifications of Haiti, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic in the Context of Latin America and the Caribbean PART I SUGAR: Haiti Facing the Mountains: Dominican Suppression and the Haitian Imaginary in the Works of Julia Alvarez and Edwidge Danticat Recovering History “Bone by Bone”: A Conversation with Edwidge Danticat PART II SOVEREIGNTY: Cuba Travesía: Crossings of Sovereignty, Sexuality, and Race in the Cuban Female Imaginaries of Zoé Valdés, Nancy Moréjon, and María Magdalena Campos-Pons Recovering Origins: A Conversation with María Magdalena Campos-Pons PART III REVOLUTION: The Dominican Republic Subversive Sexualities: Marilyn Bobes, Achy Obejas, and Loida Maritza Pérez on Revolutionizing Gendered Identities Against Cuban and Dominican Landscapes The Heart of Home: A Conversation with Loida Maritza Pérez Conclusion Non progredi regredi est: The Making of Transformative Visions Acknowledgements Notes Works Cited Index Aims to show that Haiti's exclusion from contemporary Latin American and Caribbean literary studies is grounded in its historical role as a site of ontological defiance. Looks at a variety of writers and a visual artist to examine women's lives within the walls of their national identifications and how their discissions of gender, race, sexuality, and class makes possible links between Haiti, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic.--Résumé de l'éditeur Links the works of contemporary women artists from Haiti - a country excluded in contemporary Latin American and Caribbean literary studies - the Dominican Republic, and Cuba. This book intends to show that Haiti's exclusion is grounded in its historical role as a site of ontological defiance.