Cuban Identity and Language in America
By Angela Geraci
Cubans have been immigrating to the United States since the start of the nineteenth century. During this time the Cuban immigrants’ ties with Cuba and their Cuban identity have remained strong. Many of these immigrants remain true to their culture and feel very strongly about their home-country. These strong feelings are likely due to living in tight-knit communities, like Miami, for example. While, there are many immigrants like this, some feel left out due to being born in the U.S. and living there for their whole lives. A big part of identity is the language you speak. If you do not speak the language of the people in your community you might feel outcast. The pull of both cultures, Cuban and American, can put a strain on these Cuban-Americans and makes it difficult to identify themselves.
Historical framework/ context:
Cuban immigration to the United States started in the early 1800s due to the U.S.’s interest in Cuban trade. People from Cuba would immigrate and settle in places like the Key West, New Orleans, Louisiana and New York City (Osorio 849). The U.S. focused on importing goods from the cigar industry and later included sugar. By 1902, the U.S. backed out of Cuba, after it intervened with Spain, but the two countries remained in close ties. The Cuban market relied on the American market (849). During the 1950s, the first big wave of Cuban immigration hit the U.S., due to former Cuban president turned dictator Fulgencio Batista. Batista in turn, paved the way for revolutionist Fidel Castro to take power in 1959.
By 1959, 124,000 Cubans lived in the U.S., due to the dictatorship of Batista, and that number would only rise after Castro’s claim of power (850). From 1952 to 1962, 200,000 Cubans received refugee status in the U.S.. 130,000 moved to Miami with the intention of moving back to Cuba after the fall of Castro, which sadly never came. In 1962, the Kennedy administration established the Cuban Refugee Program which assisted with resettlement and adjustment. This program provided public assistance, medicare, low-interest loans, scholarships and free English-language courses to Cuban immigrants. By 1965 the second wave of Cuban immigration to the U.S. hit. The dictatorship made the need to leave Cuba so strong, that the U.S. sent boats to Camarioca port to take Cubans to Florida. When that proved to be insufficient, flights would leave Cuba twice a day until 1973. These “freedom flights” transported 260,000 Cubans to the U.S., and by 1973, Miami was second only to Havana in Cuban population (852).
After these bouts of immigration, the Cubans spread across the U.S.. A total of one million U.S. residents are of Cuban background (Pérez 127). The highest concentration of Cubans are in metropolitan areas, like Ft. Lauderdale, the Greater New York area and the Greater Los Angeles area. All together these three places hold more than three-fourths of Cuban population (130). Most of the Cubans immigrating were elderly people or women. Men who were military age were not allowed to leave the country. According to Lisandro Pérez’s findings, the Cuban household tends to have three or more generations living under the same roof, and they also tended to have “other relatives” living in the home, as well (132). While it was found that Cubans were below average in ability to speak Engish, Pérez also stated that English is probably the main language among Cubans who lived in the U.S. all or most of their lives (134-136). This background of Cuban immigrtaion to the U.S. shows why so many Cuban-Americans may not feel at home in America. Most Cuban immigrants did not want to leave their homeland, but had to due to fear or dictatorships. Many Cubans did not plan on staying in America as long as they did, so when they realized they weren’t going back to Cuba they turned places like Miami into the home they left behind. In making places like Miami feel like Cuba they solidified their identity as Cuban Americans
Identity issues:
Cuban identity has many components. According to Odalis Garcia, Cubanidad is the state of being Cuban. This term is used to describe how Miami, Florida feels so much like Cuba, that it feels like being in Havana. The term Cubanidad can be used to describe other places that have a large Cuban population, but Garcia focuses mostly on Miami. Cubanidad is the feeling of Cuba, from the language people speak to the way they interact with each other.
Many Cuban families instill a sense of pride for their home country in their children, and those children carry it with them even though they themselves have not been to Cuba. Cubans also teach their children a sense of home-seeking in their children and it is passed down through their families (Garcia, “As Generations Pass, Pride in Cuban Identity for Families in Exile Remains”). Cubas who identify with Cubanidad may not feel that America is home to them, due to the strong ties Cuban-Americans feel to their family’s homeland, even if they weren’t born there. For those Cuban-Americans home is not the U.S., it is Cuba.
Abel Prieto discussed Cuban identity through the writings of Fernando Ortiz. Ortiz had stated that Cubans are “ashamed of being Cuban,” (Preito, “Cubanness and Cuban Identity: the Importance of Fernando Ortiz”). Prieto added to this by saying that Cubanness is the general condition of being Cuban, while full Cuban identity is “heartfelt, conscious and desired,” (Preito). Prieto also said that while Cubanness includes things like enjoying rum, playing dominoes, smoking cigars and drinking strong coffee, this is not Cuban identity (Perito). While Cubaness and Cubanidad are the same Garcia and Perito give it different connotations. Cubaness is seen as negative by Prieto, because it's not the same as being truly Cuban. Garcia sees Cubanidad as a way of being a true Cuban without being born there, and that this is a good thing.
Lily Hartman conducted three interviews at Brown University with people of Cuban background. The purpose of the interviews was to learn about the identity of 2nd and 3rd generation Cuban-Americans. These people were not born in Cuba, but they have parents or grandparents who were. These interviews are significant because they give us a brief look at what it's like living in America as a 2nd or 3rd generation Cuban-American. The three people interviewed provided insight to their Cuban identity and their feelings of Cuba. When they were asked what being Cuban-American meant to them at Brown, Elisa Glubok González (EGG), says that it was interesting to meet other Cuban-Americans who weren't friends or family. Diego Luis (DL), said that they never had strong connections with that Latin@ community due to the language barrier. He only speaks English, but is trying to learn Spanish, so he can connect better with his family and the Spanish speaking community. One of the participants, who wished to remain anonymous, grew up in Miami around many Cubans, which gave them a negative connection with Cuba, but at Brown, where there aren't as many Cubans, they felt a stronger connection to their Cuban identity.
It was interesting that all three of the people being interviewed have had their Latin@ identity questioned (Hartman, Lily, “Cuban Identity, Intergenerational Change, and Mobility''). It was either due to where, or their lack of knowledge of the language., For one of the participants, the place of origin is significant to be identified oneself as Cuban. Even though they are of Cuban descent, they were told they are not actually Cuban,because they were born in the U.S. When asked if going to Cuba would change their understanding of their Cuban identity DL and the unidentified participant said yes, because of their families’ idealism of the island. EGG had actually gone back to Cuba and said that she felt like she was home there, because the people who lived there acted just like her family did back in the U.S.
American identity vs Cuban Identity
American culture is quite different from Cuban culture and customs. For example, in the U.S. a household is typically nuclear, which means the family living inside consists of parents and their children (Commisceo Global Consulting Ltd. USA - Language, Culture, Customs and Etiquette). This is different from the Cuban household which can house three generations from one family and might even include other relatives. While many Cubans are strongly Catholic, Americans can be any religion, but tend to be Christian (Commisceo Global Consulting Ltd.). As for language, the official language of Cuba is Spanish, while the U.S. does not have an official language, the people there primarily speak English with Spanish at a close second.
Language and identity usually go hand in hand. Ana Zentella’s chapter in the book Remaking America she discusses how your language can define how you are identified. There are many different types of Spanish that are spoken, like (Zentella 321). Puerto Rican, Dominician and Cuban all have different ways of speaking Spanish, and some of these differences are so great it is like hearing separate languages. When second generation Latin@s in America are learning Spainish, they are also learning English at the same time. These children will grow up knowing both Spanish and English, being bilingual, but will be accused of not knowing either of the languages (Zentella 328). This causes a strain on Latin@ people who were born in the U.S.
Interviews:
I interviewed Maritza Rodriguez and asked her what it is like being Cuban American and living in New Jersey. Rodriguez is a 22 year old woman who lives in New Jersey and works as a translator and doctor’s assistant. She is Latina with a Cuban mother and Pureto Rican father. She is bilingual, fluently able to speak Spanish and English. Rodriguez is also a 1st generation Cuban-American.
When I asked her what it was like having a Cuban mother, she said it was “eye-opening” and that it felt like she was different. She also mentioned feeling different when talking about language. She is the only one of her cousins to speak Spanish fluently and she felt that it was weird that they were Latin@ like her, but didn’t know the language. When it comes to Rodriguez’s Cuban identity, she feels both the hardships and benefits that come with it. She feels the hardship of feeling like she “couldn’t leave the country without making my entire family disappointed, because they worked so hard to get here.” But Rodriguez also feels pride in “knowing what my family did to protect me and make sure that I have the best life possible.” These feelings that Rodriguez feels are the same feelings that Garcia also discusses. The feeling of pride for your country and your people, along with the feeling of being home when around them. These are feelings that strongly represent Cuban identity in the U.S.
I also interviewed Rodriguez’s cousin, Sara Gonzelez. Gonzelez is 24 years old, lives in New Jersey and she works as an assistant manager at Apple. She is mixed Cuban and Itilan, with a Cuban father and Itilan mother, and she is a 1st generation Cuban-American. Gonzalez primarily speaks English, but can hold a conversation in Spanish.
Gonzalez is both a Cuban-American and a Italian-American, but she feels more in touch with her Cuban identity, because she lived with her Cuban grandmother for so long. Growing up Gonzelez participated in Cuban traditions, like her quinceañera and Christmas Eve. She also said that when she has children she would want them to learn and participate in these traditions. Gonzalez’s Cuban identity is inline with Garcia’s definition of Cubanidad. Gonzalez feels pride for the country her father is from and wants her children to feel that same pride.
When it comes to language, Gonzelez speaks some Spanish, only enough to hold a conversation. She says she can understand everything, but “my accent is really bad and I don’t conjugate well.” Gonzelez, like DL from the Brown interviews, wishes to speak Spanish better in order to communicate with her family in a more efficient way.
While both Gonzelez and Rodriguez feel close with their Cuban heritage, Rodriguez relates to her Puerto Rican side just as strongly. Gonzalez relates better to her Cuban side than her Italian side. They both define Garcia’s version of Cubanidad well. Both of them participate in Cuban traditions and customs, like a big Christmas Eve dinner, and want to keep these traditions alive through their children. Perito might argue that Gonzalez and Rodriguez are not actually Cuban, because they were not born there and they do things that they perceive as Cuban. To counter that argument, both Gonzalez and Rodriguez seem to have a deeper understanding of these traditions due to their parents being born in Cuba.
Even though both Gonzalez and Rodriguez are from the same family they have different experiences with language. Both were taught Spanish from a young age, but Rodriguez’s intermediate family spoke it more in the home, causing her to become fluent in both English and Spanish. Gonzalez did not have the same relationship with Spanish as Rodriguez, so when she moved away from her grandmother she lost most of it. Even though Gonzalez is not fluent in Spanish she has not lost her Cuban identity, to contrast that Rodriguez speaks fluent Spanish, and still has a strong connection with her Cuban identity. While it is difficult to keep in touch with Latin@ identity without a full understanding of the language, it is not impossible, as seen with Gonzalez and Rodriguez’s interviews.
Conclusion:
Cubans have been immigrating to the U.S. since the early 1800s and have left their mark in the form of large communities who have strong ties to their home-country. There are differing views on how Cuban-Americans are seen by other Cubans. Cubanidad and Cubaness are two terms used to describe Cuban-Americans and how they act. Cubanidad is the feeling of home and pride for Cuba, whereas Cubaness is a person acting how they think a Cuban acts.
Cuban-Americans have intense feelings of pride for their home-country, and these feelings are passed down from parent to child. These feelings can be seen through the interviews of Sara Gonzalez and Maritza Rodriguez. Both of these people keep in touch with their Cuban roots, despite some differences in their upbringing and language. Language also plays a role in Cuban identity. In the interviews conducted by Lily Hartman for Brown University, she explored three Cuban-Americans’ relationships with language. One in particular felt that they were disconnected from the Latin@ community because of their lack of knowledge of the Spanish language. While language and identity are tied together, language does not always define who you are.
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