This thesis aims to observe and distinguish if the Cuban Diaspora in the U.S. still meets the conditions of being a diaspora. To examine this purpose, the thesis answer the tree following research questions: 1. How has the immigration of Cubans in the United States of Americas developed over the years? 2. What are the features of the present Cuban Diaspora in the United States of America? 3. Has the Cuban Diaspora changed its affiliation towards its homeland or host land? To answer these questions a theoretical framework has been made with three main points of what characteristics a diaspora has, which has been summarized from different researcher’s definition of the meaning of diaspora. The study is a case study, which will be formed by the method of a qualitative desk study, using the tool of process tracing. This for the ability to collect and process vast amounts of data, systematically go through the historical process of the Cuban diaspora in the U.S. that leads up to the present time and then analyze this with the theoretical framework. The conclusion of this essay shows a change within the Cuban Diaspora in the U.S. but is unable to point out clear that the diaspora does not meet the conditions of the chosen framework. The conclusion states that further research needs to be done within this area.

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This dissertation presents findings from ethnographic research conducted with members of the Sociedad La Unión Martí-Maceo, established by segregated Black Cuban cigar workers in Ybor City in 1904. For decades, Tampa officials have initiated numerous urban revitalization projects aimed at developing a world-class tourist destination and metropolitan center. Often, these efforts have centered on highlighting the ethnic history of Ybor City, from which the participation of Black Cubans and the Martí-Maceo Society have been actively excluded or ignored. The main issues related to contemporary Afro- Cuban identity in Tampa and which will be examined in my dissertation, include the changing nature of the Afro-Cuban community in Tampa in light of increases in migration of Cubans and other Latinos of color to the area; Martí-Maceo members’ struggle to reclaim an Afro-Cuban heritage within Tampa’s larger historic preservation efforts over the past decade; and an examination of the Martí-Maceo Society as a voluntary association that appears to have outlived its usefulness in present-day Tampa despite efforts by elderly members to sustain and expand it.

Nos travaux s’articulent autour de la construction identitaire par l’écriture des auteures de la diaspora cubaine à New York et s’appuient sur les autofictions de Sonia Rivera-Valdés et Jacqueline Herranz-Brooks. Ces auteures contemporaines, qui définissent les contours du sujet lesbien à travers érotisme et désir, déstabilisent les identités nationales, culturelles et sexuelles en mettant en scène des personnages qui évoluent en dehors de la norme, en marge du système politique, social et sexuel. Elles redéfinissent l’identité cubaine à partir d’une perspective intimiste, qui s’éloigne de l’image politisée. Notre approche littéraire et socio-historique éclaire les mécanismes de constructions identitaires des auteures au regard du contexte de production des œuvres. Les nombreux témoignages, auprès des auteures et des garantes de l’institution cubaine, nous ont permis d’identifier ce contexte littéraire et socio-historique dans lequel les auteures ont évolué et produit leurs œuvres. Sonia Rivera-Valdés et Jacqueline Herranz-Brooks, à travers leur trajectoire littéraire, se définissent en tant qu’auteure lesbienne dans un espace géographique fragmenté. Elles « fictionnalisent » leurs souvenirs pour retracer leurs parcours de vie, qui est la fois témoignage (discours qui révèle une situation socio-historique : être lesbienne à Cuba, la difficulté d’intégration des migrantes à New York) et en même temps fiction, leur permettant ainsi de projeter leurs idéaux. C’est donc entre témoignage et reconstruction du passé, ancré dans le présent de production, que les auteures se construisent dans un espace fragmenté entre Cuba et New York. L’écriture, ainsi que la photo pour Herranz-Brooks, en tant qu’actes créatifs leur permettent de refaire vivre leurs expériences afin de construire une identité en devenir d’auteure et de femmes lesbienne, migrante, cubaine de la diaspora. / My work deals with the building of identity through the writing of women writers from the Cuban Diaspora in New York. It focuses on autofictions by Sonia Rivera-Valdés and Jacqueline Herranz-Brooks. These contemporary writers, - who have a knack for defining the lesbian subject through the use of eroticism and desire- also manage to unsettle national, cultural and sexual identities by putting forward characters who develop out of the norm, away from the political, social and sexual system. These writers give a new definition to Cuban identity from an intimate perspective, which is far from the politicized image we know. My literary and socio-historical approach sheds light on the mechanisms of the construction of the identities of these women writers, considering in particular the context of production of their works. The numerous field surveys on the writers and guarantors of the Cuban institution made it possible for me to identify the literary and socio-historical context in which the women writers developed and produced their works. Through their literary careers, Sonia Rivera-Valdés and Jacqueline Herranz-Brooks describe themselves as lesbian writers living in a fragmented geographical space. They succeed in fictionalizing their memories in order to tell their lives. The text is both testimony – a narrative describing a socio-historical situation, being a lesbian in Cuba, the difficult integration of the migrants in New York- and fiction, enabling them to project their ideals. It is therefore in between testimony and reconstruction of the past anchored in the present that the women writers build a fragmented space between Cuba and New-York. Writing, as well as photography for Herranz-Brooks, seen as creation, made it possible for them to give life again to their past experiences so as to build themselves an identity as writers and as lesbian, migrant, Cuban women from the Diaspora.

This thesis explores the US-based Cuban community through conducting a Quantitative Content Analysis (QCA) on three of the most popular, diasporic newspapers. The manifest content of 30 editorials and other news articles was analysed, utilising deductive reasoning to uncover the presence of soft power. Consequently, the results communicate the diaspora’s support for less coercive measures and policies that welcome increased relations, and often wish to support island-based Cubans. This contradicts the community’s characterisation as a group, who overwhelmingly supports the use of hard power, and wishes to restrict Cuban engagement. This study fits in an underdeveloped area of International Relations (IR) and, therefore, seeks to clarify that the diaspora are not monolithically in favour of hard power policies (that enforce isolation and economic coercion) to achieve its goals. In sum, the study utilises a combined theoretical framework that includes diaspora politics, identity, and soft power to analyse the findings, thus illustrating a frequent presence of soft power throughout many of these diasporic writings.

This ethnographic study on Cuban immigrants conducted in Germany explored the dynamics of integration through an understudied immigrant population. Most of the research conducted on integration in Germany has overwhelmingly been on Turkish immigrants, which is Germany’s majority immigrant group. To contribute to Integration Studies, this research focused on a minority and lesser studied immigrant group, Cuban immigrants. Cuban immigrants in Germany not only have a different historical and geopolitical relationship with Germany than its majority group but they also subscribe to different cultural and ethnoreligious categories. Because of these varying circumstances, Cubans act as a counter example to the majority immigrant group, creating an alternative narrative to integration in Germany. This dissertation addressed the methodology used in this study, explored the complexity of identity, examined German immigration and integration policies, reviewed the Cuban diaspora in the United States and globally, and presented an ethnography of Cuban integration in Germany. Effectively contributing to not only Integration Studies but also to Cuban Diaspora Studies, and Identity Studies.