Becoming Cuban? The Political [Im]Possibilities of African-Identified People in Cuba’s First Republic

This paper will examine the discourses and practices of citizenship formation in Cuba during the transition from colony-through protectorate-to republic at the turn of the 20^th century. Specifically, I am interested in how the new republic grappled with the problem of politically and legally incorporating recently-emancipated, African-born people in a nation where citizenship was defined as a birthright and where traditionally conceived paths to naturalization were based on residency [and in the case of Cuba- veteran status]. I argue that the recently-emancipated, African born presented an conundrum that Cuban statesmen “resolved” through the creation of a specific naturalization clause for this subset of the population. I am interested in the debates that led to the creation of this clause as well as the impact of the clause on the communities it intended to incorporate into the nation. Tracing a broader context, I will examine similar cases in other places and times where new polities faced the challenge of legally and politically incorporating African-born and African-identified peoples in new nations.