Library of Rassegna iberistica

Series | Library of Rassegna iberistica
Edited book | Constelaciones familiares en la narrativa iberoamericana moderna
Chapter | ¿Redefinir la nación a partir de una memoria cubana multidireccional?

¿Redefinir la nación a partir de una memoria cubana multidireccional?

Imaginarios históricos judíos y constelaciones familiares en novelas cubanas diaspóricas

Abstract

Since the 2000s, a corpus of Cuban diasporic novels has emerged, exploring Jewish immigration to Cuba from two angles: the expulsion of Sephardic Jews after 1492 and the arrival of Ashkenazi Jews during the Shoah. Transcending this experience, these novels intertwine key moments of Jewish and Cuban history while their multidirectional ‘memory making’ is translated into oblique, cross-ethnic family constellations. Mostly written by US-Cuban authors, the texts aspire to redefine the Cuban nation from a post- or transnational angle. Novels like Days of Awe (2001) and Letters from Cuba (2020) serve as allegories of another type of nation, symbolised by family constellations beyond ethnic or political paradigms and by Jewish diaspora history.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: Sept. 1, 2023 | Accepted: March 21, 2024 | Published June 20, 2024 | Language: es

Keywords DiasporaMemoryCubaAnthropologyJewish historyFamilyKnots of memoryUSACaribbeanSephardism


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