Racal Relations in Cuba
Mark Sawyer does an excellent job in determining and documenting the racial climate of Cuba in his book, Racial Politics in Post-Revolutionary Cuba. Using ethnographic methods of personal interviews and surveys helped to garner a more accurate analysis of what is really the racial atmosphere for Afro-Cubans and their counterparts the White Cubans. In determining if I preferred Chapter’s 5 or 6 as more informative and persuasive about life on a daily basis in Cuba, was difficult, because in my opinion they complimented each other. Chapter 5, “Race and Daily Life in Cuba During the Special Period,” based its information on extensive interviews with residents, and showed that there are substantial differences in the treatment, and perceptions of race, among White and Afro-Cubans. …show more content…
49). Despite the Cuban government’s narrative that racism had been just about eliminated as proof of the progressive racial advancements as benefits of the Cuban Revolution, Sawyer and a darker-skinned Afro-Cuban are denied service at the bar, because of their excess melanin (Sawyer pgs. 102-103). Sawyer’s personal experience highlights the contradictory racial climate in Cuba. Gathering information using in-depth interviews of forty-five Cubans, representing different facets of living standards, during a period of ten months, gives significant insight to life in Cuba (p.103). The interviewees surprisingly, were ready and open to discuss race and living conditions in Cuba, and Sawyer used different strategies based on the age of those being interviewed, (pgs.
Mark Sawyer does an excellent job in determining and documenting the racial climate of Cuba in his book, Racial Politics in Post-Revolutionary Cuba. Using ethnographic methods of personal interviews and surveys helped to garner a more accurate analysis of what is really the racial atmosphere for Afro-Cubans and their counterparts the White Cubans. In determining if I preferred Chapter’s 5 or 6 as more informative and persuasive about life on a daily basis in Cuba, was difficult, because in my opinion they complimented each other. Chapter 5, “Race and Daily Life in Cuba During the Special Period,” based its information on extensive interviews with residents, and showed that there are substantial differences in the treatment, and perceptions of race, among White and Afro-Cubans. …show more content…
49). Despite the Cuban government’s narrative that racism had been just about eliminated as proof of the progressive racial advancements as benefits of the Cuban Revolution, Sawyer and a darker-skinned Afro-Cuban are denied service at the bar, because of their excess melanin (Sawyer pgs. 102-103). Sawyer’s personal experience highlights the contradictory racial climate in Cuba. Gathering information using in-depth interviews of forty-five Cubans, representing different facets of living standards, during a period of ten months, gives significant insight to life in Cuba (p.103). The interviewees surprisingly, were ready and open to discuss race and living conditions in Cuba, and Sawyer used different strategies based on the age of those being interviewed, (pgs.