Synopses & Reviews
"Megan Daigleand#8217;s examination of Cuban sexual desire transported me to a world about which I knew little. With vivid stories, crisp writing, a unique ethnographic style, innovative methods, and precise theoretical analysis, she offers a provocative and visceral picture of sex work in Cuba."and#151;Naeem Inayatullah, editor of A
utobiographical International Relations "Daigle is to be commended for her determination to go beyond the all-too-familiar ways of addressing a subject that is often treated casually, in fleeting journalistic visits to Cuba, or stereotypically, arising from a priori conceptions. Instead, her refreshingly different and welcome approach is not to condemn (either the system or the people involved) but rather to understand and explain."and#151;Antoni Kapcia, Centre for Research on Cuba, University of Nottingham
"Drawing the reader in from the first sentence, Daigleand#8217;s book delicately weaves theory and storytelling. Counterintuitively reading agency and possibility through the lives and stories of the jinetera, Daigle tells a compelling story full of political insights about gender, race, and colonial power and the complexities of contemporary Cuba."and#151;Marysia Zalewski, Head of the School of Social Science, University of Aberdeen
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“Dewey contributes to a growing wave of qualitative research on the sex industry.”
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“Fresh. . . . As keen as it is thorough. . . . Neon Wasteland is a provocative, highly readable analysis.”
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and#8220;A book outside of the box that will evoke the Pomba Gira in all its readers.and#8221;
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and#8220;A clearly written and exciting book, filled with major insights, which will inspire further scholarship.and#8221;
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"Holy Harlots is an engaging and much needed exploration of the Queen of the Catacombs and the Lady of the Raggedy Skirt..."
Synopsis
From Cuba with Love deals with love, sexuality, and politics in contemporary Cuba. In this beautiful narrative, Megan Daigle explores the role of women in Cuban political culture by examining the rise of economies of sex, romance, and money since the early 1990s. Daigle draws attention to the violence experienced by young women suspected of involvement with foreigners at the hands of a moralistic state, an opportunistic police force, and even their own families and partners.
Investigating the lived realities of the Cuban women (and some men) who date tourists and offering a unique perspective on the surrounding debates, From Cuba with Love raises issues about womenand#8217;s bodiesand#150;what they can or should do and, equally, what can be done to them. Daigleand#8217;s provocative perspective will make readers question how race and politics in Cuba are tied to women and sex, and the ways in which political power acts directly on the bodies of individuals through law, policing, institutional programs, and social norms.
Synopsis
This path-breaking book examines the lives of five topless dancers in the economically devastated rust belt” of upstate New York. With insight and empathy, Susan Dewey shows how these women negotiate their lives as parents, employees, and family members while working in a profession widely regarded as incompatible with motherhood and fidelity. Neither disparaging nor romanticizing her subjects, Dewey investigates the complicated dynamic of performance, resilience, economic need, and emotional vulnerability that comprises the life of a stripper. An accessibly written text that uses academic theories and methods to make sense of feminized labor, Neon Wasteland shows that sex work is part of the learned process by which some women come to believe that their self-esteem, material worth, and possibilities for life improvement are invested in their bodies.
Synopsis
"Through heartfelt ethnographic storytelling, Dewey provides a nuanced treatment of exotic dancers. This is a wonderful book."Patty Kelly, author of
Lydia's Open Door: Inside Mexico's Most Modern Brothel "Neon Wasteland is a riveting and compelling book. Dewey's reflections and analyses are richly descriptive and insightful. She poignantly relates the stories of these women but also never lets the reader forget the stark social inequalities that are part of these women's daily lives."Jennifer K. Wesely, PhD, co-author of Hard Lives, Mean Streets: Violence in the Lives of Homeless Women
Synopsis
Holy Harlots examines the intersections of social marginality, morality, and magic in contemporary Brazil by analyzing the beliefs and religious practices related to the Afro-Brazilian spirit entity Pomba Gira. Said to be the disembodied spirit of an unruly harlot, Pomba Gira is a controversial figure in Brazil. Devotees maintain that Pomba Gira possesses an intimate knowledge of human affairs and the mystical power to intervene in the human world. Others view this entity more ambivalently. Kelly E. Hayes provides an intimate and engaging account of the intricate relationship between Pomba Gira and one of her devotees, Nazarand#233; da Silva. Combining Nazarand#233;and#8217;s spiritual biography with analysis of the gender politics and violence that shapes life on the periphery of Rio de Janeiro, Hayes highlights Pomba Giraand#8217;s role in the rivalries, relationships, and struggles of everyday life in urban Brazil.
A DVD of the film Slaves of the Saints is included.
Synopsis
"An enthralling account of the spirits of the street, whose stories are as complex as those of their human hosts. Long ignored both by governments and by scholars, here these spirits and persons finally acquire full rights to a rich representation. There is no book quite like it." and#151;Paul Christopher Johnson, author of
Secrets, Gossip and Gods: The Transformation of Brazilian Candombland#233; and
Diaspora Conversions: Black Carib Religion and the Recovery of Africa"Hayes constructs a cogent and passionate account that masterfully weaves the daily struggles, hopes, and resilience of women living in a favela with keen, unassuming, and often witty insights about fieldwork and the ethnographic encounter." and#151;Raquel Romberg, author of Healing Dramas: Divination and Magic in Modern Puerto Rico
About the Author
Susan Dewey is Assistant Professor of Gender and Womens Studies and adjunct in International Studies at the University of Wyoming. She is the author of Making Miss India Miss World: Constructing Gender, Power, and the Nation in Postliberalization India and Hollow Bodies: Institutional Responses to Sex Trafficking in Armenia, Bosnia, and India.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Ochand#250;n and Yemayand#225;
1. From Mulata to Jinetera: Prostitution as Image of Thought
2. Love, Sex, Money, and Meaning: Interrogating Jineterismo on the Ground
3. Lessons in Subterfuge: Everyday Acts of Repression and Resistance
4. There Is Only One Revolution: State Institutions and the Moral Revolution
5. Conduct Unbecoming: Bodily Resistance and the Ethics of the Self
Conclusion: On the Malecand#243;n
Notes
Bibliography
Index