Cuban Color in Tourism and La Lucha: An Ethnography of Racial Meanings

by L. Kaifa Roland

Cuban Color in Tourism and La Lucha : An Ethnography of Racial Meanings offers a provocative look at what it means to belong in modern socialist Cuba. Drawn from her extensive travels throughout Cuba over the past decade, author L. Kaifa Roland pulls back the curtain on a country that has remained mysterious to Americans since the mid-twentieth century. Through vivid vignettes and firsthand details, Roland exposes the lasting effects of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent rise of state-sponsored segregated tourism in Cuba. She demonstrates how the creation of separate spheres for locals and tourists has had two effects. First, tourism reestablished the racial apartheid that plagued pre-revolutionary Cuba. Second, it reinforced how the state's desire to maintain a socialist ideology in face of its increasing reliance on capitalist tools is at odds with the day-to-day struggles--or La Lucha --of the Cuban people. Roland uses conversations and anecdotes gleaned from a
year of living among locals as a way of delving into these struggles and understanding what constitutes life in Cuba today. In exploring the intersections of race, class, and gender, she gives readers a better understanding of the common issues of status and belonging for tourists and their hosts in Cuba.

Cuban Color in Tourism and La Lucha is one of several volumes in the Issues of Case Studies in Contemporary Anthropology series, which examines the experiences of individual communities in our contemporary world. Each volume offers a brief and engaging exploration of a particular issue arising from globalization and its cultural, political, and economic effects on certain peoples or groups. Ideal for introductory anthropology courses--and as supplements for a variety of upper-level courses--these texts seamlessly combine portraits of an interconnected and globalized world with narratives that emphasize the agency of their subjects.

Genres: Sociology, Anthropology

130 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2010

Reviews

[Denise Hatcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cuban Color is a fascinating exploration of Cuba and what tourism means to the island. The author explores the issue of race and how it plays a role in the Cuban culture and with tourism. As she notes, still today, there is an air of mystery that surrounds Cuba and its people, and their different skin tones.

Having visited the island in May of 2024, there were many times that the author’s rich writing brought me back there. I enjoyed the references to places I had seen like Havana, the Malecón, and so many monuments dedicated to Ché Guevara. I wish I had visited the Tropicana nightclub as it seems to be quite the tourist attraction, but am thankful for all we did do and see in Cuba.

I agree with her assessment that Cuba is full of “brilliant and creative people (p. 95).” This trip taught me lessons, many about perspective and resilience, that no other trip had. I am forever grateful to have visited this island, still untouched by American capitalism, and I often smile when I think of the amazing people I met and the experiences I had. As a tourist, I remember kind and hard-working people, delicious food, very few places to shop, Ché Guevara monuments, a beautiful afternoon and evening at the beach, and roads lined by so many open fields. Still, as a tourist, I know my experiences and memories are very different than for those that live there. I had and still have so many questions about this place and it’s people. Would I go back? Yes, one day, after exploring other places, I would.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read for those interested in anthropology and how race/color impacted Cuban tourism.

[Courtney · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars, read for school