Cuba and Puerto Rico: Transdisciplinary Approaches to History, Literature, and Culture - Hardcover

by Carmen Haydée Rivera (Editor), Jorge Duany (Editor)

The intertwined stories of two archipelagos and their
diasporas

This
volume is the first systematic comparative study of Cuba and Puerto Rico from
both a historical and contemporary perspective. In these essays, contributors
highlight the interconnectedness of the two archipelagos in social categories
such as nation, race, class, and gender to encourage a more nuanced and multifaceted
study of the relationships between the islands and their diasporas.

Topics
range from historical and anthropological perspectives on Cuba and Puerto Rico
before and during the Cold War to cultural and sociological studies of diasporic
communities in the United States. The volume features analyses of political
coalitions, the formation of interisland sororities, and environmental issues.
Along with sharing a similar early history, Cuba and Puerto Rico have closely
intertwined cultures, including their linguistic, literary, food, musical, and
religious practices. Contributors also discuss literature by Cuban and Puerto
Rican authors by examining the aesthetics of literary techniques and
discourses, the representation of psychological space on the stage, and the
impacts of migration.

Showing
how the trajectories of both archipelagos have been linked together for
centuries and how they have diverged recently, Cuba and Puerto Rico offers a transdisciplinary approach to the
study of this intricate relationship and the formation of diasporic communities
and continuities.

Publication of this work made possible by a
Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the
National Endowment for the Humanities.

Author Biography

Carmen Haydée Rivera, professor of
English at the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras, is coeditor of Writing Off the Hyphen: New Critical
Perspectives on the Literature of the Puerto Rican Diaspora.

Jorge Duany, director of the Cuban Research Institute and professor of anthropology at Florida International University, is the editor of Picturing Cuba: Art, Culture, and Identity on the Island and in the Diaspora.