The Epic of Cuba Libre: The Mambi, Mythopoetics, and Liberation

The story of Cuba Libre and the mambí, a citizen-soldier, is an iconic representation of Cuba's past and present. Éric Morales-Franceschini's critical exegesis examines how the mambí has come to embody emancipatory promises in the twentieth-century popular imagination, analyzing its Afro-Cuban, woman, trickster, saboteur, and martyr aspects. It highlights the complexities and idiosyncrasies of an aesthetics of liberation and offers insights into decolonial futures.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 264 pages
Publication date: 09 June 2022
Publisher: University of Virginia Press

Between 1868 and 1898, three generations of Cubans fought to free their homeland from the clutches of colonialist Spain. More than a century later, the story of Cuba Libre and the citizen-soldier known as the mambí remains one of the most beloved and ritualistically recited narratives in Cuban history. From town festivals to cartoons, textbooks, hymns, national currency, and logos, the mambí is the foremost icon of Cuba's past and present. In his critical exegesis, Éric Morales-Franceschini delves into the emancipatory promises that the story of Cuba Libre came to embody in the twentieth-century popular imagination.

The story of Cuba Libre and the mambí, however, defies conventional epic conventions. How do we account for heroes who are neither demigods nor nobles? What about tactics that are more sly than virtuous? Or verse that is more populist than eloquent? By analyzing the mambí as Afro-Cuban, woman, trickster, saboteur, and martyr, Morales-Franceschini demonstrates how this heroic archetype has impacted issues such as racial justice, women's empowerment, populist humor, the ethics of violence, and the nationalist sublime. With a focus on decolonial futures, The Epic of Cuba Libre sheds light on the complexities and idiosyncrasies of an aesthetics of liberation.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780813948157