CWS/CF

Cuban Women: Politics, Culture and Revolution

Canadian Woman Studies/les cahiers de la femme is celebrating 46 years of innovative feminist publishing. It is incredibly rewarding, this year, to release this special issue, “Cuban Women: Politics, Culture, and Revolution,”—a culmination of a long and fruitful process of Canadian-Cuban feminist dialogue and collaboration. Since 1959, the Cuban government and people have resisted the U.S. government’s constant attack on the country’s very existence—illegal blockade, inclusion of Cuba on the state-sponsored terrorism list, and persistent interference and interventions to overturn the Revolution. As an activist and a feminist, I have been deeply impressed by the Cuban women’s strong role in the Revolution and intrigued by their daily lives in the face of these challenges. After numerous visits to Cuba, I became involved with the Calixto Garcia Brigade where I sought to learn more, and where the vision of this collaborative journal issue took shape. The first step in this collaboration was an ongoing dialogue among sister-editors based in Cuba and Canada to frame the journal issue and explore cross-cutting solidarity themes. Through this process, we have been able to bring together a collection of papers that explore women’s historical struggles for rights and emancipation, as well as their many accomplishments and successes in areas such as art, culture, and politics. This CWS/cf issue will amplify Cuban women’s voices and help us understand their lives. It will draw attention to the often-overlooked past and present contributions of Cuban women to the revolutionary struggle and the broader feminist movement. And it will contribute to a better general understanding of the complex relationships among gender, politics, and culture in revolutionary contexts. This journal issue is just a beginning. In these politically charged times we need to continue the dialogue and strengthen Canadian-Cuban solidarity. Finally, Nancy Morejón will be 80 years old August 7, 2024. We would like to dedicate her inclusion in the journal and the publication of five of her poems, to this important anniversary. BRENDA CRANNEY, ON BEHALF OF RANU BASU, ELIANIS PÁEZ CONCEPCIÓN, ANA ISLA, LISA MAKARCHUK, VILMA PÁEZ PÉREZ, CLAUDIA PERALTA, AND AZZA ROJBI

Table of Contents

Preface by Brenda Cranney

Introduction by Ranu Basu

In-Between Spaces of Memory and Resistance: Enslaved “Macuá” women in Colonial Cuba
by Abubacar Fofana León

I Remember…Fidel Castro
by Lisa Makarchuk

The Federation of Cuban Women: The deepening of the Cuban revolutionary project
by Charles McKelvey

Portraits of Courage, Voices of Agency: Women, Revolution, and the Cuban Literacy Campaign of 1961
by Elena De Costa, PhD

Revolutionary Poster Women: Woman-as-Sign in the Cuban Political Poster, 1961–75
by Liuba González de Arma

Afro-Cuban Women in the Cultural Field: An Overview, 1959–2022
by Ana Belen Martín Sevillano

To Be a Black Woman, a Lesbian, and an Afro-Feminist in Cuba Today
by Norma R. Guillard Limonta

The Federation of Cuban Women and Gender Equality
by Zerin Mahzabin Khan, PhD

Feminist Resistance: Action and Unity to Denounce Genocide
by Ana Isla

Isabelas, more than 20 years of LGBTIQ social activism in Cuba
by Isel Calzadilla Acosta

Cuban Female Entrepreneurship: Economic empowerment and reappraisal of the Afro aesthetic
by Susel Abad Fis

From Pen to Platform: Mariblanca Sabas Alomá or the politicization of feminist speech
by Melanie Moreau

The Families Code of Cuba: An Overview
by Elena Diaz, B. Phil., PhD & Lisa Makarchuk

Poet Laureate Nancy Morejón, five selected poems
introduced by the guest editorial board

In Their Own Voice
by Anabel Alvarez, Anna Sanchez, Carmen Julia Guerra, Elena Diaz, and Ana Maria Batista Olano

The National Literacy Campaign in Cuba
by Yamila Fernández Domínguez

Looking Back, Looking Forward: Exhilaration, Hope and Inspiration—The 60s in Cuba Through a Canadian’s Eyes
by Lisa Makarchuk

Cuba: The Tragic Beacon of Imperfect Possibility
by Miki Kashtan

A Lifetime of Canadian-Cuban Solidarity
by Elizabeth Hill

The Che Guevara Volunteer Work Brigade, and how I was inspired by solidarity to travel to Cuba!
by Janine Solanki

Afrocubanas: History, Thought, and Cultural Practices
reviewed by Ana Belen Martín Sevillano

Cuba, Africa and Apartheid’s End: Africa’s Children Return
reviewed by Lisa Makarchuk

We Are Cuba! How a Revolutionary People Have Survived in a Post-Soviet World
reviewed by Azza Rojbi

Getting to Know Cuba by Lisa Makarchuk

Irradiated by Marlene Kadar

Where is her home? by Pulikta Anand

In War…. by Pulikta Anand

Small Country – Big Heart by Elizabeth Hill

Upon Fidel’s Passing by Lisa Makarchuk

I did mention I could drive by Marlene Kadar

My Sisters…. by Pulikta Anand