To Die in Cuba: Suicide and Society (H. Eugene and Lillian Youngs Lehman Series)

for Much Of The Nineteenth Century And All Of The Twentieth, The Per Capita Rate Of Suicide In Cuba Was The Highest In Latin America And Among The Highest In The World—a Condition Made All The More Extraordinary In Light Of Cuba's Historic Ties To The Catholic Church. In This Richly Illustrated Social And Cultural History Of Suicide In Cuba, Louis A Pérez Jr. Explores The Way Suicide Passed From The Unthinkable To The Unremarkable In Cuban Society. in A Study That Spans The Experiences Of Enslaved Africans And Indentured Chinese In The Colony, Nationalists Of The Twentieth-century Republic, And Emigrants From Cuba To Florida Following The 1959 Revolution, Pérez Finds That The Act Of Suicide Was Loaded With Meanings That Changed Over Time. Analyzing The Social Context Of Suicide, He Argues That In Addition To Confirming Despair, Suicide Sometimes Served As A Way To Consecrate Patriotism, Affirm Personal Agency, Or Protest Against Injustice. The Act Was Often Seen By Suicidal Persons And Their Contemporaries As An Entirely Reasonable Response To Circumstances Of Affliction, Whether Economic, Political, Or Social. bringing An Important Historical Perspective To The Study Of Suicide, Pérez Offers A Valuable New Understanding Of The Strategies With Which Vast Numbers Of People Made Their Way Through Life—if Only To Choose To End It. to Die In Cuba Ultimately Tells As Much About Cubans' Lives, Culture, And Society As It Does About Their Self-inflicted Deaths. For much of the nineteenth century and all of the twentieth, the per capita rate of suicide in Cuba was the highest in Latin America and among the highest in the world-a fact all the more extraordinary in light of Cuba's historic ties to the Catholic Church. In this richly illustrated social and cultural history of suicide in Cuba, Louis A. Perez Jr. explores the way suicide passed from the unthinkable to the unremarkable in Cuban society.In a study that spans the experiences of enslaved Africans and indentured Chinese in the colony, nationalists of the twentieth-century republic, and emigrants from Cuba to Florida following the 1959 revolution, Perez finds that the act of suicide was loaded with meanings that changed over time. Under certain circumstances, it served to consecrate the proposition of nation; at other times, it confirmed despair and hopelessness. It could be a function of heroism or a result of humiliation. In perhaps the most noteworthy and most celebrated form of voluntary death in Cuba, suicide was construed as a political act, a sacrifice of one's life on behalf of some ideal associated with the exaltation of the nation. By the twentieth century, suicide had become a common subject in literature, music, and the popular media, where it was often treated as a source of humor.Perez argues that while clinically definable emotional disorders and mental illnesses undoubtedly accounted for some suicides, in most instances the act of suicide was seen by both suicidal persons and their contemporaries as an entirely reasonable response to circumstances of affliction, whether economic, political, or social.Bringing an important historical perspective to the study of suicide, Perez offers a valuable new understanding of the strategies with which vast numbers of people made their way through life-if only to choose to end it. To Die in Cuba ultimately tells as much about Cubans' lives, culture, and society as it does about their self-inflicted deaths. Dying to be free: suicide on the plantation To die for the patria: the logic of exemplary death and the formation of Nation Life through suicide A way of life, a way of death An ambience of suicide Patria o muerte: living and dying the revolution. The specter of death loomed large over the plantations of nineteenth-century Cuba.