The Rise and Decline ofLa Yuma: Global Symbols, Local Meanings, and Remittance Circuits in Post‐Soviet Cuba

Abstract

Resumen Examinando las transformaciones actuales de la sociedad cubana tras la desapariciόn de la Uniόn Soviética, este artículo explora el término popular cubano “La Yuma,” y las mutaciones semióticas de sus más deseados bienes, marcas y símbolos durante los últimos veinte años. Mi propuesta es que, en vez de apuntar simplemente a una política contrarrevolucionaria, bienes tales como prendas de ropa con la bandera estadounidense, o tenis de la marca Nike, indican principalmente la emergencia de lo que yo llamo “circuitos de remesas” entre la Cuba post‐soviética y sus comunidades en la diáspora, en vez de denotar sencillamente una posición política de resistencia al estado revolucionario, tal y como se asume con frecuencia. Una mirada integradora, que busque comprender a la vez los movimientos de personas, sus marcas preferidas, y los significados locales de símbolos globales, contribuirá a enriquecer etnográficamente la comprensión teórica de la Cuba contemporánea en campos tales como los estudios (post) socialistas, caribeños, transnacionales, y globales, en un amplio sentido.

Fashioning the Legal Subject: Popular Justice and Courtroom Attire in the Caribbean

“…While the note itself stood out, I was more taken aback by the fact that it was actually necessary. As I had observed, like others before and after me, clothes bearing US flags, symbols, and colors, or T‐shirts that declared love of US cities—for example, “I [heart] NYC”—were a fairly common fashion choice in Havana and throughout Cuba (Archibold ; Hodge , ; Ryer , ). Anthropologist Paul Ryer () has written about the popularity of such US‐themed clothing and quintessentially American brands like Nike and Tommy Hilfiger.…”

“…As I had observed, like others before and after me, clothes bearing US flags, symbols, and colors, or T‐shirts that declared love of US cities—for example, “I [heart] NYC”—were a fairly common fashion choice in Havana and throughout Cuba (Archibold ; Hodge , ; Ryer , ). Anthropologist Paul Ryer () has written about the popularity of such US‐themed clothing and quintessentially American brands like Nike and Tommy Hilfiger. While such apparel are symbols of America, Ryer noted, “This fashion is not a political symbol per se” (287; see also Hodge , ).…”

The “Mula Ring”: Material Networks of Circulation Through the Cuban World

“…The traditional Marxist focus on production to understand the social(ized) meaning of material things is therefore arguably unhelpful in the context of contemporary Cuba. Several anthropologists have already considered the consumption of material culture in Cuba, including the various forms of sociality that develop as by‐products of, for example, waiting in long queues, swapping information on which shop holds stock, and the growing importance of brand culture (Porter ; Pertierra ; Scarpaci ; Ryer ). Until now, however, the circulation of material items through informal networks in and out of Cuba have largely only been examined by economists, who for the most part have neglected the social paradigms that create and are in turn reinforced by these processes (Rivera ), or by sociologists focused more specifically on remittance giving, which constitutes only one aspect of this larger network I describe (Eckstein, , ).…”

The Matter of Things: A Material Turn in Cuban Scholarship

“…In addition to the material practices of the Cuban past that they had largely studied, mainly focusing on rural and folkloric traditions, the turn of the century expanded their interest to also include post-Soviet years. Contemporary anthropologists have analysed material rituals in Afro-Cuban religions (Holbraad 2007;Ochoa 2010;Palmi e 2018;Wirtz, 2014), as well as modern practices of material exchanges and consumption (Cearns 2019;Garth 2013aGarth , 2013bGarth , 2014Garth , 2016Garth , 2017Garth , 2019aGarth , 2019bGarth , 2020Del Real and Pertierra 2008;Harkonen 2011Harkonen , 2015Harkonen , 2016Harkonen , 2019Lee Dawdy 2002;Pertierra 2008Pertierra , 2011Pertierra , 2012aPertierra , 2012bPertierra , 2015aPertierra , 2015bPremat 2003Premat , 2004Premat , 2009Premat , 2012Premat , 2017Ryer 2017;Wilson 2009Wilson , 2011Wilson , 2012Wilson , 2014aWilson , 2014bWilson , 2016aWilson , 2016b. To a certain extent, they have been accompanied in their endeavour by sociologists interested in studying post-Soviet fashion discourses (e.g.…”