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Meridional. Chilean Journal of Latin American Studies is pleased to invite you to participate in the dossier “Relevance of Latin American Marxism: Thinking from, with, and beyond Michael Löwy’s work”, which consists in our 21st volume, to be published in October 2023. 

Racism and Cuba’s War of Independence (1895-1898). An Analysis of the Representation of Race, Space and Heritage in Spanish Colonial Literature

Authors

  • Jorge Camacho
No. 10 (2018): Abril-septiembre. Dossier: "El racismo en el Caribe: prácticas y resistencias"
https://doi.org/10.5354/mrd.v0i10.48846

Abstract

During Cuba’s war of independence an important number of novels, theater plays, and poems were published, but they have received very little critical attention by critics, especially those works written by Spanish writers living in the island. In this essay, I will analyze several texts and images that were published in Cuba and Spain during this time: El Separatista (1895) by Eduardo López Bago, La Cariátide. Novela por la Guerra de Cuba (1897) by Ubaldo Romero Quiñones, and Autonosuya, curiosa novela político-burlesca (1886-1897) by Francisco Fontanilles y Quintanillas. In these novels and images, I will highlight the representation of race, as well as the way climate and physiology are used to describe Cubans. I will argue that Cubans in these texts are represented as the other, degraded to monstrous and savages, incapable of governing themselves due to their nature, their heritage or their sickness. The purpose of such portrayal was to invalidate their political views, strike fear in the hearts of the population, and keep Cuba “white and Spanish”. These novels are not isolated cases. On the contrary, they appear throughout the war (1868-1898) demonstrating a conscious effort on the part of these writers and artists to support the National Integrity (Spain and its colonies) and represent colonial subjects as the non-human Other

Keywords:

Cuba, racism, biopolotics, Spanish novel, naturalism

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How to Cite
Camacho, J. (2018). Racism and Cuba’s War of Independence (1895-1898). An Analysis of the Representation of Race, Space and Heritage in Spanish Colonial Literature. Meridional. Revista Chilena De Estudios Latinoamericanos, (10), 21–43. https://doi.org/10.5354/mrd.v0i10.48846
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Meridional. Revista Chilena de Estudios Latinoamericanos
Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades
Universidad de Chile
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