The Transnational Life of Diversión
This chapter investigates the flows of ludic popular culture between Cuba and the United States in order to elaborate its central contention: the movement of popular culture is indicative of the intensification of transnational contact born out of political and demographic changes on both sides and is a means by which this intensification occurs. The first part focuses on standup comedy by island-based comedians who appeal to Cubans who have arrived in Miami since 1994 and the racialized and gendered underpinnings of their acts. The second half explores how popular culture produced in the United States circulates in Cuba through a phenomenon called el paquete semanal (the weekly package). El paqueterefers to the sale and circulation of media content primarily produced off the island, mainly from the United States. In addition to keeping up with American sitcoms and Hollywood blockbusters, people on the island can now watch artists who have left Cuba permanently perform nightly on South Florida television. Analyzing the movement of popular culture between the island and the diaspora highlights how intensifying transnational contact, continuity, and exchange are affecting and reflecting the lives of Cubans on and off the island culturally and economically.