Race and Reproduction in Cuba

The book "Race and Reproduction in Cuba" explores how women's reproductive lives have been shaped by medical, legal, and institutional interventions over four centuries, challenging the male-normative perspective of migration in Cuba's demographic history. It argues that elite men intervened in women's reproductive lives in racially specific ways to sustain white population growth and nonwhite population management.

Format: Hardback
Length: 277 pages
Publication date: 30 November 2022
Publisher: University of Georgia Press

Women's reproduction, encompassing conception, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and other physical acts of motherhood, played a pivotal role in the evolution and management of Cuba's population. While existing scholarship has approached Cubas demographic history through the lens of migration, both forced and voluntary, Race and Reproduction in Cuba presents a groundbreaking perspective by centering women in the first comprehensive history of reproduction in Cuba.

Bonnie A. Lucero delves into the intricate tapestry of women's reproductive lives, as well as the significant medical, legal, and institutional interventions that shaped them, spanning four centuries. Her study commences in the early colonial period, with the emergence of the islands first charitable institutions dedicated to alleviating the suffering of impoverished women and abandoned white infants. The book's focal point lies in the long nineteenth century, when elite interventions in women's reproduction intertwined with race and legal status. This period witnessed a profound interplay between elite men, including judges, physicians, philanthropists, and public officials, who intervened in women's reproductive lives in racially specific ways.

Lucero's examination explores how white supremacy molded tangible disparities in the treatment of women and their infants across racial lines, ultimately contributing to the perpetuation of racial hierarchies amidst periods of significant political, economic, and social transformation. By examining these reproductive outcomes, Lucero sheds light on the intricate ways in which women's bodies and experiences were intertwined with broader societal dynamics, shaping the course of Cuba's history and contributing to the complex mosaic of its population.

Weight: 363g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780820362762