Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Ok. Hmmm. I see. Although there are sources as well as the Cuban American institutes that states that Cuba is 62% mixed race and/or black (but then again it could be a subjective estimate)
But then again censuses and labels are self reported so of course it's not always accurate.
It would be good for everyone to get a DNA test and see what would come up.
On 23andme, there's a white Cuban who had African mtDNA. In fact, I think there are two white Cubans who descend from a African women.
I traveled to Cuba this spring (legally) and I didn't get to see Havana but I did visit my birth city Pinar Del Rio and it reminded me a little of South Beach. I'll share some pictures, if you all would like to see more let me know.
Mayra
Where ever there's a decent amount of Art Deco buildings it will remind anyone of South Beach. You will find plenty of Art Deco buildings not just all over Cuba, but also in Puerto Rico and in Dominican Republic. It seems to be a running theme in the Spanish Caribbean.
Cuba is one of the countries of Latin America that is most similar to Spain, was the last colony and have always been connected (immigration, culture, music). And you see this connection in the style of the cities and the houses. This similarity is especially noticeable in Andalusia and the Canary Islands, from where most of the inmigrants were. There is an architectural style, arquitectura indiana, very typical of Asturias, in northern Spain, similar to the Latin American colonial houses.
There's also a group of Cuban dissidents who supports that Cuba become again an autonomous region of Spain.
Speaking about Havana,it's really similar tu Cadiz. There is a saying in Cuba and also in Spain that is :"La Habana es Cádiz con más negritos, Cádiz es La Habana con más salero"but otherwise, Cadiz is not a typical european city and doesn't have an european style.
You might mean that Havana's architecture in the old city is similar to Spain's (Cadiz). In most other areas of the city its 1950's Miami or third world Dominican Republic. I was recently in Havana on a Saturday night and I would have thought I was in Africa or Haiti. So much for European!
I'd say it's more African than Puerto Rico and even the Dominican Republic (some parts anyway), maybe even Trinidad. More African than Barbados, Guadeloupe and Martinique. Not as African as Haiti, as African as Jamaica.
\
Trinidad has the same orisha religion as Cuba, even if some of the mulatto identified Eurocentric Trinis wish to deny it, as they prattle about their Scottish, or French grandfathers. Even inclusive of the use of ritualistic Yoruba.
This issue about who is more African is problematic. Yes Cuba has orishas, which are used in lieu of the Catholic saints, but any one who really knows Africa knows that their religion goes way beyond that. Much of the Santeria ritualism involving animal sacrifice and the use of rum can be found in many places.
Does Cuba have that juju "presence" that Nigeria has? In Africa much time is spent dealing with demons and appeasing the ancestors and the consequences of not doing an adequate job are dire. A trip into the village Africa will terrify most of us westernized blacks, including Cubans. Even taking a picture of the wrong thing might lead to a serious beating by villagers who feel that they must avenge the spirits for what this stupid "white" man (yes that's what they call us) just did.
And I do know that in parts of rural Guyana a specific drum beat can incite a specific spirit to appear and this manifests in a specific way, depending on which spirit is responsible. I saw this with my own eyes right here in New York. And of course there is Kwekwe practiced in rural Guyana as a pre wedding ceremony. It mirrors almost exactly many West African wedding ceremonies in its ritual, even though I doubt those involved know this.
Jamaica has very powerful Afroprotestant from the more Christian Revivalists, right through to Kumina and the Pocomania, which are only nominally Christian.
Is there much in music and dance? Well dancehall and soca are as African as any if one listens to contemporary African music. They have moved beyond acoustic drumming. Music and dance is the most "African" space in the Caribbean and even the less overtly African islands like Puerto Rico and Barbados have a very heavy African presence in this sphere. I think one will have to go to places like Aruba and St Barths to be almost completely away an African presence.
What about speech? Yes African words survive in daily use in Cuba, as they do in most parts of the Caribbean. But the fact is that the various creoles of the English and French speaking Caribbean retain way more grammatical influences than any thing spoken in Cuba. Indeed Krio of Sierra Leone and pidgin English of Nigeria are very close to the creoles of Guyana and Jamaica, if one adjusts for the different accents.
Any one seeing the market women in Haiti and various parts of the English speaking Caribbean, especially Jamaica, might be entering a more African space than they realize (the same aggressive bartering), and indeed up to 20 years ago many women carried stuff on their heads, though this has now largely died off.
So I really don't think that it makes sense debating about which is the most African, aside from Haiti that is. Because often it is based on a very narrow notion of what being African is.
In terms of who is the most African, well aside from the Maroons of Suriname, Haiti wins hands down.
Not a "myth" at all, the only place in the Caribbean were you find white cities, white neighbourhoods, and anybody with a certain responsability is white. Cuba has never been similar to neighbouring countries, not even now.
Cuba is the country with more American influence in the continent, the only country with a section in North America, Miami. Soviet influence has vanished. Cuba is mainly European/American/Cuban.
Any day now the Miami Cubans will understand that they are Americans. Those who left recently obviously excluded. Indeed some of those who most fervently wave the Cuban flag left as kids and have never been back, and entertain a romantic notion of what pre Revolutionary Cuba was, based on what their parents told them. Many seriously think that a major cataclysmic event will end Castro rule, and every thing will quickly role back to 1959.
Except that the 11.5 million Cubans have different ideas. We can debate about whether those living in Cuba support or despise the Castro regime. We don't know because that regime unilaterally deprives Cubans of that choice. Having said that I will be surprised if Cubans in Cuba don't have some degree of suspicion of those in Miami who left 50 years ago.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Reminds me of South Beach
