Contested histories and entangled memories : Cuba and Africa relations

Abstract

The publication of Cuba and Africa 1959–1994: Writing an Alternative Atlantic History is not just timely. The study is also a critical resource to assist modern society, particularly Africans, to grapple with the legacy of Cuba/Africa relations in a manner different from the traditional and dominant Cold War paradigm characterising much of this historiography. As the volume demonstrates, Cuba’s involvement in Africa is controversial far less as a matter of monetary quantum and fact but more due to Cuba suffering an unresolved duality in Africa arising from its entanglement in the Cold War, the struggle against colonialism and apartheid on the continent, and its historical connection to Africa dating back to the era of slavery (Ferrer 2021, 3–6). Consequently, Sebastian Conrad’s (2003, 85) notion of “entangled memories” and Marouf Hasian’s (2007, 394) “contested histories” best illuminate the complex relationships (Miller 2003, 149) between Africans and the making of independent Africa in partnership with Cuba. Though the title of the study suggests it is focused on Cuba’s relationship with Africa, the book does not claim to be comprehensive about the history of Cuba’s relationship with Africa. It is, instead, the beginning of reclaiming and reconstituting an alternative history of Cuba’s Atlantic experience from slavery to African independence. Born from discussions and papers first presented at a conference in 2016 at the Institute for Humanities in Africa (HUMA) at the University of Cape Town, the book ends with the controversy of Cuban exiles in Florida and their dreadful treatment of Nelson Mandela’s first visit to Miami in 1993. Concluding the volume in this manner is prescient. While there is not a single chapter on South Africa or by a South African scholar in the book, the publication locates South Africa’s experience with Cuba as a critical and integral part of the history of Cuba and Africa.