Conceiving Cuba

Reproduction, Women, and the State in the Post-Soviet Era

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Gender Studies, Women&, Anthropology
Cover of the book Conceiving Cuba by Elise Andaya, Rutgers University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Elise Andaya ISBN: 9780813572093
Publisher: Rutgers University Press Publication: May 30, 2014
Imprint: Rutgers University Press Language: English
Author: Elise Andaya
ISBN: 9780813572093
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Publication: May 30, 2014
Imprint: Rutgers University Press
Language: English

After Cuba’s 1959 revolution, the Castro government sought to instill a new social order. Hoping to achieve a new and egalitarian society, the state invested in policies designed to promote the well-being of women and children. Yet once the Soviet Union fell and Cuba’s economic troubles worsened, these programs began to collapse, with serious results for Cuban families.

Conceiving Cuba offers an intimate look at how, with the island’s political and economic future in question, reproduction has become the subject of heated public debates and agonizing private decisions. Drawing from several years of first-hand observations and interviews, anthropologist Elise Andaya takes us inside Cuba’s households and medical systems. Along the way, she introduces us to the women who wrestle with the difficult question of whether they can afford a child, as well as the doctors who, with only meager resources at their disposal, struggle to balance the needs of their patients with the mandates of the state.

Andaya’s groundbreaking research considers not only how socialist policies have profoundly affected the ways Cuban families imagine the future, but also how the current crisis in reproduction has deeply influenced ordinary Cubans’ views on socialism and the future of the revolution. Casting a sympathetic eye upon a troubled state, Conceiving Cuba gives new life to the notion that the personal is always political.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

After Cuba’s 1959 revolution, the Castro government sought to instill a new social order. Hoping to achieve a new and egalitarian society, the state invested in policies designed to promote the well-being of women and children. Yet once the Soviet Union fell and Cuba’s economic troubles worsened, these programs began to collapse, with serious results for Cuban families.

Conceiving Cuba offers an intimate look at how, with the island’s political and economic future in question, reproduction has become the subject of heated public debates and agonizing private decisions. Drawing from several years of first-hand observations and interviews, anthropologist Elise Andaya takes us inside Cuba’s households and medical systems. Along the way, she introduces us to the women who wrestle with the difficult question of whether they can afford a child, as well as the doctors who, with only meager resources at their disposal, struggle to balance the needs of their patients with the mandates of the state.

Andaya’s groundbreaking research considers not only how socialist policies have profoundly affected the ways Cuban families imagine the future, but also how the current crisis in reproduction has deeply influenced ordinary Cubans’ views on socialism and the future of the revolution. Casting a sympathetic eye upon a troubled state, Conceiving Cuba gives new life to the notion that the personal is always political.

More books from Rutgers University Press

Cover of the book The Insecure City by Elise Andaya
Cover of the book The Queer Fantasies of the American Family Sitcom by Elise Andaya
Cover of the book LatinAsian Cartographies by Elise Andaya
Cover of the book War Echoes by Elise Andaya
Cover of the book In the Godfather Garden by Elise Andaya
Cover of the book Our Caribbean Kin by Elise Andaya
Cover of the book Editing and Special/Visual Effects by Elise Andaya
Cover of the book Catching a Case by Elise Andaya
Cover of the book When Women Rule the Court by Elise Andaya
Cover of the book Judaism by Elise Andaya
Cover of the book Into Africa by Elise Andaya
Cover of the book Transplanting Care by Elise Andaya
Cover of the book New African Cinema by Elise Andaya
Cover of the book Climate Trauma by Elise Andaya
Cover of the book Tainted Earth by Elise Andaya
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy