Migrant and Tourist Encounters

Migrant and Tourist Encounters: The Ethics of Im/mobility in 21st Century Dominican and Cuban Cultures analyzes the effects of clashing flows of voluntary and involuntary travelers to and from these countries due to an increase in migration and tourism during the last three decades. I compare the ways in which literary works and films reflect on and critique the power relations and ethics of im/mobility and encounter, both on the islands and in destinations abroad. The works draw attention to the interconnectedness of migration, tourism, and other forms of travel as well as immobility, and portray growing local and global inequalities through characters' disparate access to free, voluntary movement. I consider how the works respond to the question of the moral potential of encounters produced by im/mobilities and the possibility of connection across differences. I argue that Dominican and Cuban artists not only critique neo-colonial paradigms of power and im/mobility, but envision and enact strategies for belonging and, in some cases, suggest a path toward de-colonial cosmopolitanism.

Dr. Andrea Easley Morris is Associate Professor of Spanish at Louisiana State University and specializes in the literature and cultures of the Hispanic Caribbean. Her book, Afro-Cuban identity in Post-Revolutionary Novel and Film: Inclusion, Loss, and Cultural Resistance, was published by Bucknell University Press in 2012. The tension between textual/visual representation and material experience marked by race and gender appears as an ongoing concern in her work on the cultural expression of the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Puerto Rico. For a future project, she is interested in studying the potential impact of an Afro-Caribbean Diasporic framework on secondary and post-secondary education in Louisiana, a Caribbean outpost in the U.S.

Chapter 1 Contextualizing Dominican and Cuban Im/mobilities since the 1960s Chapter 2 The Weight of Travel: Anticipated, Attempted, and Witnessed Departures Chapter 3 Dominicans and Cubans abroad: Moving on and Finding Connection Chapter 4 Return Encounters: Working through Obstacles to Connection and Belonging Chapter 5 Tourists and Expatriates: Transnational Intimacy and the Ethics of Im/mobility Chapter 6 Academic and Creative Encounters: Controlling the Narrative