This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Cotanda, D. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Voices at Mother's Kitchen

An Autoethnographic Account of Exile

University of South Florida, Tampa

In this article, the author draws on memory to relive interactions with his mother and his wife as well as his own experiences before his arrival to the United States in 1960. His autoethnographic writing is an attempt to understand his departure from Cuba and his relationship with his mother and his wife. He discusses concepts of collective unconsciousness and the reluctant immigrant and how historically constituted power relations define the identity of Cuban exiles. He highlights the battle of the politics of passion and the politics of affection—two polar opposites. As the politics of affection undermine the goals of the politics of passion, the moral imperative of what ought to be is not achieved and becomes an antecedent to exile.

Key Words: autoethnography • Cuba • Cuban-American • displacement • exile • identity • immigrant • memory • migration • narrative • reluctant immigrant

Qualitative Inquiry, Vol. 12, No. 3, 562-588 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1077800406286234


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?