Economization, moralization, and the changing moral economies of ‘capitalism’ and ‘communism’ among Cuban migrants in Spain

Abstract

This article aims to establish a dialogue between approaches in economic anthropology and the anthropology of ethics and morality, assessing the complementarity and the possible points of juncture between these two theoretical lines of enquiry, their analytical potential, as well as their limits. It highlights the importance, for research on moral economies, of uncovering what counts as ‘economic’ and as ‘moral’ in a given empirical context, and proposes the analytical lenses of economization and moralization as a productive way to address such question. The theoretical contribution is grounded in ethnographic research in Spain that examines how Cuban migrants seeking to improve their lives and livelihoods navigate different political-economic systems and changing material conditions. While discussing their trajectories, future projects, and the expectation they associate with ‘capitalism’, ‘communism’ and their respective changes and crises, people are led to articulate different moral economies that delineate conflicting regimes of value and evaluations of what makes for a good life, and what ought to be the place of the economic in it. The analysis of the empirical material enables us to consider various instantiations of the moral economy, to explore the different realities the term can cover, and to clarify the scope and applicability of this notion.

Tourism, Migration, and Back in Cuba

“…Several of my Cuban interlocutors were jobless or only working part time, often in precarious and badly paid positions. As I have argued elsewhere (Simoni ), this specific political‐economic conjuncture led to moral‐economic critiques and arguments. Conversations focused quite easily on comparing Cuba and Spain, and current changes in both countries, countries often contrasted as capitalismo (Spain) versus comunismo (Cuba).…”

“…“Everything has a price: this is what capitalism has taught me,” maintained Saúl. His critique of mixing “social” and “economic” relations operated both when informal social relationships threatened to corrupt “proper” economic functioning and when economic rationalities unduly interfered with friendship, love, and other intimate forms of relationality (see Simoni ; Zelizer ). His critique resonated with the utopian ideals I had heard back in Cuba, cultivated among Cubans involved in relations with tourists who were seeking to leave the island and embraced the prospect of a more “normal” life abroad.…”

Foreword

“…Several of my Cuban interlocutors were jobless or only working part time, often in precarious and badly paid positions. As I have argued elsewhere (Simoni 2016b), this specific political-economic conjuncture led to moral-economic critiques and arguments. Conversations focused quite easily on comparing Cuba and Spain, and current changes in both countries, countries often contrasted as capitalismo (Spain) versus comunismo (Cuba).…”

“…"Everything has a price: this is what capitalism has taught me," maintained Saúl. His critique of mixing "social" and "economic" relations operated both when informal social relationships threatened to corrupt "proper" economic functioning and when economic rationalities unduly interfered with friendship, love, and other intimate forms of relationality (see Simoni 2016b;Zelizer 2005). His critique resonated with the utopian ideals I had heard back in Cuba, cultivated among Cubans involved in relations with tourists who were seeking to leave the island and embraced the prospect of a more "normal" life abroad.…”

“…My current research addresses this. Attentive to the dialectics between moral and political economies (Narotzky and Besnier 2014;Simoni 2016b), I seek to uncover changes in people's values and aspirations as a result of their migratory trajectories and the transformations in their living conditions. Moving beyond taken-for-granted views of crisis, migration, and their effects, it is the occurrences, specificities, and directionalities of such changes, including their broader societal effects on both sides of the Atlantic, that become matters of empirical investigation and renewed anthropological theorizing.…”