Aging and Generations in Cuba

Reviews / Votes

This thought-provoking ethnographic study paints a vivid picture of the 'crisis of care' affecting the elderly in central Havana through a detailed portrayal of lived realities under contemporary Cuba's aging and faltering socialist experiment. These personal accounts are embedded in an overall analysis covering ethnic and gender inequalities, inter-generational divides, and international migratory pressures, and will be of interest to scholars of Caribbean elder care. -- Laurence Whitehead, Nuffield College, University of Oxford This ethnography, which is based on the experiences of a large extended family, provides a unique view into Cuba's elder care crisis. Although the Revolution was supposed to liberate women from domestic labor to allow them to foster their careers and further revolutionary change, the author shows how traditional patriarchy, international economic sanctions, a lack of political will, and more have trapped women in their traditional roles and undermined the needed socialization of eldercare. Perhaps younger generations may foster change, but Destremau-Zietz's analysis clearly tempers that hope. -- Jacqueline L. Angel, University of Texas at Austin Blandine Destremau-Zeitz's landmark study stands out as the single best read on one of Cuba's biggest, yet least discussed social problems: the care crisis of a rapidly aging society. This lens allows for a unique analysis of contemporary Cuba as a society where socialist legacies and new market mechanisms intersect-and how this challenges our understanding of social welfare and generational relations in both socialist and capitalist societies. -- Bert Hoffmann, German Institute for Global and Area Studies