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Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <h-rev...@lists.h-net.org> > Date: June 12, 2020 at 10:30:58 AM EDT > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Cc: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-LatAm]: Hicks on Hynson, 'Laboring for the State: > Women, Family, and Work in Revolutionary Cuba, 1959-1971' > Reply-To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > > Rachel Hynson. Laboring for the State: Women, Family, and Work in > Revolutionary Cuba, 1959-1971. Cambridge Cambridge University > Press, 2020. 332 pp. $39.99 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-107-18867-9. > > Reviewed by Anasa Hicks (Florida State University) > Published on H-LatAm (June, 2020) > Commissioned by Casey M. Lurtz > > It is an exciting time to study the Cuban Revolution: in the last ten > years, scholars like Lillian Guerra, Devyn Spence-Benson, Michelle > Chase, and Elise Andaya have all broken new ground in excavating the > historical roots and consequences of the 1959 takeover of Cuba by > radical young nationalists. Rachel Hynson's new book, _Laboring for > the State: Women, Family, and Work in Revolutionary Cuba, 1959-1971, > _is an excellent addition to this growing body of literature that > challenges both the chronology and the content of the Cuban > government's own narrative of its revolution. Hynson's use of the > Cuban family as a unit of analysis offers a fresh perspective on the > transformations of the 1960s, revealing previously obscured conflicts > between and choices of the Cuban government and the island's > citizens. The revelation that the (seemingly) personal is political > is old. But Hynson's chapters on abortion, marriage, sex work and > "unconventional employment" dig into the aphorism, improving our > understanding of revolutionary Cuba and offering a methodological > path forward for other historical studies. > > _Laboring for the State _argues that between 1959 and 1971, the > revolutionary Cuban government engaged in social engineering to > remodel Cuban families. The ideal "New Family," an extension of > Ernesto "Che" Guevara's vision of Cuba's "New Man," would help push > forward Cuba's new socialist agenda. Opponents to Fidel Castro's rule > have often accused the Cuban revolutionary government of seeking to > destroy the biological family and replace it with Communist control, > but Hynson demonstrates that an unwavering belief in the Eurocentric > patriarchal two-parent family actually undergirded many policies in > the 1960s. Conflict arose between government and citizens when Cubans > rejected the standards of familial legitimacy upon which the new > government insisted. In four thematic chapters, each covering the > same twelve-year period, Hynson explores how the revolutionary > government attempted to link labor to morality and regulate both: > specifically, she argues that the Cuban government attempted to shape > Cuban men into their families' primary wage-earners and criminalize > reliance on female wages. It is no coincidence that in the same time > period, the Cuban revolutionary government transitioned from a > democratic to an authoritarian method of governance. > > Hynson brilliantly teases out the racial implications of the policies > she describes. Fidel Castro declared anti-black racism "finished" in > Cuba after 1961; as a result, explicit references to racial > distinctions or racial tension can be difficult to find in sources > after 1961. But Hynson expertly extrapolates the racial undertones of > revolutionary policy from less than obvious sources. In her first > chapter, for example, Hynson describes early efforts to regulate > women's reproductive activity. In 1964 the Cuban government > introduced intrauterine devices from Chile to Havana's shantytowns > and to Manzanillo, Santiago, Guantánamo, and other eastern cities. > Both locations had high concentrations of Afro-Cuban women, and > Hynson argues that the focus on those locales "illustrates the degree > to which women of color may have been the targets of government > control over women's reproduction" (p. 75). In the second chapter, > Hynson notes that efforts to force Cubans into legitimate legal > marriages were the least prominent in Oriente province, where the > population of black Cubans was higher. The Cuban government has a > long history of excessive interest in the reproductive and conjugal > activity of African-descended people. By cross-referencing Cuba's > racialized geography with revolutionary policy, Hynson demonstrates > how that tradition extended into the 1960s. > > Cuban citizens' counternarrative to the government's grand narrative > of the revolution is a key element of _Laboring for the State's_ > argument. Often, Cubans expressed and disseminated their > counternarratives through _bolas, _or rumors, and Hynson's excavation > of these _bolas _is another impressive achievement of the book. > Rumors spread in the early 1960s that the government had criminalized > abortions; in the mid-1960s that a forced labor camp had emerged on > the Guanhacabibes peninsula in western Cuba; in the late 1960s that > weddings would be prohibited. At the core of each of these rumors was > a kernel of truth, and each of the rumors forced some kind of > government action. Scholars of the Caribbean have long known that > rumors play an essential role in social and political life; _Laboring > for the State _shows how _bolas _served as a form of resistance to > state narratives and state repression. > > Hynson concludes that by the Cuban government's own standards, > revolutionary efforts to shape a "New Family" failed: today divorce > and abortion rates in Cuba are among the highest in the world, and > prostitution is as rampant as it was before 1959. Revolutionary > officials insist that the failure is due to Cubans' insufficient > dedication to the revolution, but Hynson argues that it is the fault > of the government itself. In forcing narrow and Eurocentric visions > of work and family onto Cubans, the government all but ensured that > citizens would resist. In her conclusion, she notes that Cubans who > find work outside of the state apparatus, who engage in sex work, who > are common-law married but not legally married function without > knowledge of the historical legacies of their practices. This is on > purpose: Hynson echoes Lillian Guerra's formulation of the Cuban > Revolution as a palimpsest, whereby the government constantly erases > their past actions to inscribe _new _policies, insisting that the > past action did not happen or is now irrelevant. > > _Laboring for the State _undoes the palimpsest. Its granular history > of the evolution of state policy toward the Cuban family makes it > impossible to ignore the historical roots of what the government sees > as "problems" today. Hynson's deconstruction of propaganda and rumors > and reconstruction of the likely truth is a valuable project in a > country whose government so highly values history, and where disputes > over _what really happened_ take on monumental political importance. > Drawing on varied and fascinating sources, Hynson has written a > social history of the first twelve years of revolutionary Cuba, and > explained to her audience how those years shaped Cuba today. Students > of the revolution in Cuba and social upheaval elsewhere would do well > to follow her impressive example. > > Citation: Anasa Hicks. Review of Hynson, Rachel, _Laboring for the > State: Women, Family, and Work in Revolutionary Cuba, 1959-1971_. > H-LatAm, H-Net Reviews. June, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54947 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
