Rafael Ocasio
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780813041643
- eISBN:
- 9780813043913
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813041643.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
The first section, “Slavery in Cuban Costumbrismo,” traces the earliest developments of Costumbrismo in Cuba, when there was only timid incorporation of slavery issues as literary motif. Official ...
More
The first section, “Slavery in Cuban Costumbrismo,” traces the earliest developments of Costumbrismo in Cuba, when there was only timid incorporation of slavery issues as literary motif. Official restrictions on publication of abolitionist material determined not only the content but also the tenor of Costumbrista essays. The second section, “Humanizing Slaves in a Cuban Ingenio: Black Laborers in Costumbrista Articles by Anselmo Suárez y Romero,” examines the writer's critical position, exceptional among Costumbristas, because in these articles he dared to deal with the lives of slave fieldworkers subjected to inhumane working conditions. Some of the workers became protagonists of tragic stories. Although slaves constituted a rather large population, stringent censorship in Cuba of publications dealing with issues of slavery kept such subjects generally under control. Suárez y Romero skillfully navigated around this pressure and managed to offer portraits of rather crude scenes of life on a wealthy Cuban plantation.Less
The first section, “Slavery in Cuban Costumbrismo,” traces the earliest developments of Costumbrismo in Cuba, when there was only timid incorporation of slavery issues as literary motif. Official restrictions on publication of abolitionist material determined not only the content but also the tenor of Costumbrista essays. The second section, “Humanizing Slaves in a Cuban Ingenio: Black Laborers in Costumbrista Articles by Anselmo Suárez y Romero,” examines the writer's critical position, exceptional among Costumbristas, because in these articles he dared to deal with the lives of slave fieldworkers subjected to inhumane working conditions. Some of the workers became protagonists of tragic stories. Although slaves constituted a rather large population, stringent censorship in Cuba of publications dealing with issues of slavery kept such subjects generally under control. Suárez y Romero skillfully navigated around this pressure and managed to offer portraits of rather crude scenes of life on a wealthy Cuban plantation.
Rafael Ocasio
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780813041643
- eISBN:
- 9780813043913
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813041643.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
The Costumbrista writer was a White intellectual, whose biases reflected not only an upper-level social condition but also his privileged gender position. An underlying trait of Costumbrista essays ...
More
The Costumbrista writer was a White intellectual, whose biases reflected not only an upper-level social condition but also his privileged gender position. An underlying trait of Costumbrista essays is, however, the fact that these writers could not escape the allure of Black cultural by-products, some of which, such as music and religious practices, became common themes. With the exception of one case, there is no surviving comparable text of the time authored by a Black Cuban. Costumbrista essays are today the only surviving testimonials of emerging Black traditions as practiced throughout the nineteenth century.Less
The Costumbrista writer was a White intellectual, whose biases reflected not only an upper-level social condition but also his privileged gender position. An underlying trait of Costumbrista essays is, however, the fact that these writers could not escape the allure of Black cultural by-products, some of which, such as music and religious practices, became common themes. With the exception of one case, there is no surviving comparable text of the time authored by a Black Cuban. Costumbrista essays are today the only surviving testimonials of emerging Black traditions as practiced throughout the nineteenth century.
Rafael Ocasio
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780813041643
- eISBN:
- 9780813043913
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813041643.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
Cuban Costumbrista writers reported the strong presence of African traditions developed by slaves and by freed Blacks as agents of a vigorous popular culture that was highly visible throughout the ...
More
Cuban Costumbrista writers reported the strong presence of African traditions developed by slaves and by freed Blacks as agents of a vigorous popular culture that was highly visible throughout the nineteenth century. In their handling of Black themes, Costumbristas addressed four main subjects: (1) the particularities of the sugar-cane plantation, rich in slave cultures (as performed in different formats of acculturation by both African and Creole or Cuban-born slaves); (2) the development of religious systems within rural and urban settings; (3) documentation of Black musical expressions; and (4) the incorporation of certain Black social types as literary characters, as workers of specific trades assigned to slaves or to freed Blacks, or as marginal outcasts living in slum areas of major Cuban cities. Afro-Cuban Costumbrismo intends to examine the special qualities that the nineteenth-century Costumbristas observed as eyewitnesses of the making of a new racial hybridity, known today as “mulattoness.” Although mulattoness was a racial concept handled in various types of documents (for example, in ecclesiastical and civil regulations against mixed marriages), it was in Costumbrista literature that the concept took on literary presence. Although Blacks as depicted by Costumbristas had little literary significance, their presence in these politically infused texts covertly addresses the influence of Black Creole culture on developing Cubanía.Less
Cuban Costumbrista writers reported the strong presence of African traditions developed by slaves and by freed Blacks as agents of a vigorous popular culture that was highly visible throughout the nineteenth century. In their handling of Black themes, Costumbristas addressed four main subjects: (1) the particularities of the sugar-cane plantation, rich in slave cultures (as performed in different formats of acculturation by both African and Creole or Cuban-born slaves); (2) the development of religious systems within rural and urban settings; (3) documentation of Black musical expressions; and (4) the incorporation of certain Black social types as literary characters, as workers of specific trades assigned to slaves or to freed Blacks, or as marginal outcasts living in slum areas of major Cuban cities. Afro-Cuban Costumbrismo intends to examine the special qualities that the nineteenth-century Costumbristas observed as eyewitnesses of the making of a new racial hybridity, known today as “mulattoness.” Although mulattoness was a racial concept handled in various types of documents (for example, in ecclesiastical and civil regulations against mixed marriages), it was in Costumbrista literature that the concept took on literary presence. Although Blacks as depicted by Costumbristas had little literary significance, their presence in these politically infused texts covertly addresses the influence of Black Creole culture on developing Cubanía.
