The feature section of Cuban Studies 17 focuses on gender inequality.  Topics include ideological limitations on the study of gender, women as workers in pre- and postrevolutionary Cuba and as emigres in the United States, and female characters in Cuban novels, 1950-1967.  A section on Afro-Cubanism explores the African ethnologic and linguistic roots of Cuban blacks and includes a literary analysis of Fernando Ortiz’s Los negros brujos.  Research Notes describes an opinion survey on U.S. policy toward Cuba in the House of Representatives and the relation between size and efficiency in Cuban sugar mills.  The discussion began in Cuban Studies 16 of Cuba’s economic planning and management system is continued in the Debate section.

As a result of the conflicts between Cuba and the United States, especially after 1959, Cubans immigrated in great numbers. Most stayed in Miami, but many headed north to Union City, making it second only to Miami in its concentration of Cubans. In The Cubans of Union City, Yolanda Prieto discusses why Cubans were drawn to this particular city and how the local economy and organizations developed. Central aspects of this story are the roles of women, religion, political culture, and the fact of exile itself. 

As a member of this community and a participant in many of its activities, Prieto speaks with special authority about its demographic uniqueness. Far from being a snapshot of the community, The Cubans of Union City conveys an ongoing research agenda extending over more than twenty years, from 1959 to the 1980s. As a long-term observer who was also a resident, Prieto offers a unique and insightful view of the dynamics of this community’s evolution.