Afro-Cuban Costumbrismo

From Plantations to the Slums

Rafael Ocasio

• Publisher: University Press of Florida
• Year: 2012
• eBook ISBN: 9780813043678
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Latin American & Caribbean Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

Costumbrismo, which refers to depictions of life in Latin America during the nineteenth century, introduced some of the earliest black themes in Cuban literature. Rafael Ocasio delves into this literature to offer up a new perspective on the development of Cuban identity, as influenced by black culture and religion, during the sugar cane boom.

Comments about the slave trade and the treatment of slaves were often censored in Cuban publications; nevertheless white Costumbrista writers reported on a vast catalogue of stereotypes, religious beliefs, and musical folklore, and on rich African traditions in major Cuban cities. Exploring rare and seldom discussed nineteenth-century texts, Ocasio offers insight into the nuances of black representation in Costumbrismo while analyzing authors such as Suárez y Romero, an abolitionist who wrote from the perspective of a plantation owner.

Afro-Cuban Costumbrismo expands the idea of what texts constitute Costumbrismo and debunks the traditional notion that this writing reveals little about the Afro-Cuban experience. The result is a novel examination of how white writers' representations of black culture heavily inform our current understanding of nineteenth-century Afro-Cuban culture and national identity.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Afro-Cuban Costumbrismo
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface: A Mulato Fino in the Twenty-First Century—A Personal Reflection
• Acknowledgments
• A Note on Translations
• Introduction: Nineteenth-Century Costumbrista Writers on the Slave Trade and on Black Traditions in Cuba
• 1. Cuban Costumbrista Portraits of Slaves in Sugarmills: Essays by Anselmo Suárez y Romero
• 2. Juan Francisco Manzano’s Autobiografía de un esclavo: Self-Characterization of an Urban Mulato Fino Slave
• 3. Urban Slaves and Freed Blacks: Black Women’s Objectification and Erotic Taboos
• 4. The Costumbristas’ Views of Manly Black Males: Uppity Blacks and Thugs
• 5. Depictions of the Horrific “Unseen”: Cuban Creole Religious Practices
• Conclusion: Costumbrista Essays on Blacks: Nineteenth-Century Preconceived Notions of Civility
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index