Introduction

Abstract

The introduction sets up two of the book’s primary objectives. First, it establishes the concept of diversión as a necessary affective complement to Cuban American Studies and Latina/o Studies more broadly in its emphasis on the vital role of laughter and play in quotidian life. Diversión is both a popular culture form and a means to describe its enactment—the performative repertoire of cubanía captured in gesticulation, word choice, tone, and speech patterns. Instead of focusing solely on the pain, anger, and sadness usually used to describe the Cuban diaspora in the United States, the introduction lays out the critical possibilities in ludic popular culture forms like standup comedy, festivals, television, and social media. Also included is a discussion of how diversión can be a means to reify and challenge normative discourse around race and sexuality. Second, it details how the Cuban diaspora has undergone massive demographic, political, and generational shifts since the 1990s and how the concept of diversión is especially useful for understanding these changes. Though the book focuses primarily on the twenty-first century, the introduction details an extensive archive of Cuban diasporic diversión extending back to the late nineteenth century.