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“In Search of Estraven III: Homophobia, Feminism & (Homo)Sexualities in Cuban Science Fiction of the 21st Century”
a CSWS Noon Tak with Yasmin Silvia Portales Machado
A science fiction scholar and gay rights activist, Yasmín S. Portales Machado is a freelance journalist for cubaliteraria.cu and havanatimes.org. She is the coordinator in Cuba of the “Anticapitalism and Emergent Sociability” Work Group of the Latin American Council for Social Sciences and founder of the Cuban Digital Humanities Network. Her blog is: http://yasminsilvia.blogspot.com/
Abstract: Searching for Estraven. Homophobia, feminism and (homo) sexualities in Cuban science fiction of XXI century / Yasmín S. Portales Machado, GT AC&SE de CLACSO
This is a feminist epistemological exercise in Cuban science fiction: I study the logics of subordination between characters of different genders and sexual orientation in the more recent books of Cuban scy fy. The review includes fourteen titles published in Cuba by seven writers; all of them began the writing career after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of XX century according to Hobsbawm (1998) and are now basics names for the contemporary Cuban scy fy landscape. The stories are dated from 1991 to 2012. This it is not a chronological study, but a thematic study: the authors are grouped according to the way they express different visions about gender and sexuality: patriarchal, feminist and queers. Books and authors included are: Vladimir Hernández Pacín, “Hipernova”; Elaine Vilar Madruga, “Al Límite de Los Olivos”, “Promesas de La Tierra Rota” and “Salomé”; Sigrid Victoria Dueñas, “Ciudad En Red”; Anabel Enríquez Piñeiro, “Nada que Declarar”; Erick Mota, “Bajo presión” y “Algunos recuerdos que valen la pena”; Michel Encinosa Fu, “Niños de neón”, “Dioses de neón” y “Veredas”; Yoss, “Pluma de león”, “Super-extra-grande” and “Condonautas.”
Read more about Yasmín S. Portales Machado in this 2014 story: http://mic.com/articles/92495/how-cuba-s-gay-rights-activists-are-starting-a-revolution-with-kissing
“In a socialist country where organizations must align with the state’s official agenda, the kiss-in is a political provocation: ‘to appropriate the streets, to normalize the rights of every person to be themselves, [in] broad daylight, is a political challenge in our country,’ Afro-Cuban journalist, activist and independent blogger Yasmin Silvia Portales Machado said in an interview with OnCuba magazine.”
Sponsored by the UO Center for the Study of Women in Society.