The Historical And Intellectual Trends - 1746 Words

Modern Cuban culture cannot simply be defined in a singular fashion. The convergence of peoples from multiple ethnic and cultural backgrounds, ranging from the Iberia and Italy to Africa and China has significantly influenced the evolution of the unique culture of the Cuban population. However, of these, it is the Spanish and African influences that have very distinctly remained, shaping societal norms, and setting culturally artistic precedents. For Afro-Cubans however, the struggle to greater recognition of cultural influence has been enormous. Racial oppression and socio-economic disparity has been a tumultuous journey for Cuba’s (population of Afro-Cubans) Afro-Cuban or black Cuban population. The purpose of this paper will be to†¦show more content†¦In his famous text, Cuban Counterpoint: Tobacco and Sugar, Ortiz explains how the cultures and peoples that descended upon the island, beginning with the native Ciboney and Taino, did not simple assume one anotherâ₠¬â„¢s culture, but converged to create completely new cultures and societal norms (Ortiz, 99). Though sadly, the majority of these original tribes were completely eliminated by the Spanish, they remain alive in words such as, â€Å"manatee, hammock, hurricane, and tobacco† (Kronenburg, 51). However, to say that Spanish and African peoples descended upon Cuba would be misleading; hence the more accurate use of transculturation to describe the intersection of a range of cultures from the Iberian Peninsula including Galicians, Basque, Portuguese, and from western Africa including Congolese, Angolan, and Guinean (Kronenburg, 52). Even more interesting than the etymology of Cuba’s ethnic history is the implications of how transculturation played into the historical and social construction of power dynamics in Cuba. Ortiz states that throughout Cuban history, one culture was not only attempting to gain power and wealth for themselves, but systematically set up a culture that disenfranchised another population; this is seem most directly with the institution of slavery by the Spanish (Ortiz, 101). The power dynamic created by the institution of slavery can certainly be pointed to as a