Lecture explores identities of Cuban-American youth

Naphtali Rosenberg / Contributing Writer

Friday, Feb. 12, in GL 220, FIU hosted a panel of Cuban-American specialist to discuss the cultural identities of Cuban-American youth. Iraida H. Lopez, Phillip M Carter, Eva Silot Bravo, Ana Menendez  and Elizabeth Crejido served as the five panelists and explored the topics of  language, literature, music and the arts.

Carter, an FIU professor and linguistics specialist, focused on the dialects specific to Miami. Carter is originally from California but as a linguist “absolutely loves” being in Miami. “The richness of the linguistic scene in Miami is almost overwhelming,” he said.

Carter broke down topics like Miami’s speech communities, phrases that belong uniquely to Miami, identity and its relation to language and the vilification of slang in the Cuban-American community.

In regards to Cuban-American slang and speech, Carter said, “We know in situations of sustained language contact, people mix their languages.”

He said, “This is a very, very normal thing to do. We can have conversations about when it is appropriate to mix and when it’s not, but to vilify, officiate or demonize an entire community on how to use their language [is] not a very good thing to do.”

He continued on the topic saying, “There are a lot of, for me, heart wrenching moments in my data where Cuban-American youths say ‘I really wish I could speak Spanish better or speak Spanish with my siblings. I should be doing more I should download all these tapes, I should be studying more… I, I, I.’”

Carter says, “And what’s not on people’s radar is that the maintenance of a language is the responsibility of the community, not just the individual.”

He argued that there is nothing to be ashamed of in the Cuban ‘Spanglish’ one hears so often in Miami.

“Language can never be lazy, language is language. What I’ve come to learn about many of my fabulous FIU students is that they feel embarrassed about their Spanish,” he said. “Many of them walk around with shame about their Spanish, that they don’t speak it well enough, and they believe it is their fault. From the perspective of a linguist I think Cuban-Americans have a lot to celebrate.”

The next speakers focused primarily on the different arts that the Cuban-American youth has been participating in.

Cerejido, a specialist on post-1980s Cuban-American artists, gave a thorough summary of the different influential Cuban-American artist currently fostering the scene.

She also delved into the relationship between second generation Cuban-Americans that have never been to Cuba and the artist currently living in Cuba.

“Cuban-American artist, who have grown up here, are now beginning to go ‘back’ to Cuba, and Cuban artist from Havanah are coming to Miami. So there is this sort of flow that is taking place,” she said.

Whether it was literature, music or visual arts, a similar sentiment was shared while comparing the modern generation of Cuban-Americans with its predecessor; the idea that the youth are now much less politically focused, less concerned with Castro and the economic sphere, and more focused on the individual and its social existence.

“They are less political. It is less about politics and more about putting family first,” said Lopez.

The panel ended with a Q&A. When an audience member asked about the real meaning of “Cuban-identity,” Lopez responded, “Identity is just a game we play in public. It is so contextual.”

She then described an idea her mother had told her. Her Cuban mother had lived all around the world and told Lopez “In India I was a westerner, in Pakistan I was a woman.”

Lopez explained that should someone ask her mother “When did you feel Cuban?” her mother’s  response would be “When I moved to Miami.”

[image from Flickr]