| Series |
Oxford oral history series
|
| Partial contents |
1. Historical Context of the Rafter Crisis -- 2. On Becoming a Balsero : Disenchantment, Disaffection and Escape -- 3. Improvisations : Trauma and Coping in the Camps -- 4. My Introduction to Gitmo -- 5. My Experiences in the Camps -- 6. Crisis, Creativity, and the Flavor of Freedom -- 7. Epilogue: A Different Kind of Rafter Crisis : PTSD and the U.S. Cuban Community -- Conclusion -- Appendix. |
| Scope and content |
"Escape to Miami is an oral history of the experience of detainees from Guantanamo during the 1994-1996 Cuban Rafter Crisis. Through life history interviews, the book offers the gripping stories of twelve rafters while also providing a study of group-level trauma and coping. Though important as an oral history, the examination of camp culture makes the project an innovative contribution to the field of anthropology as Campisi argues that coping with trauma experiences as a group can create new cultural forms"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Scope and content |
"While the Naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, is well-known for its infamous prison camp, few people are aware of its prior use as an immigrant detention center for Haitian and Cuban refugees. Beginning in August 1994, the United States government declared that thousands of Cubans who had launched themselves into the Florida Straits on rickety rafts were 'illegal refugees' and sent them to join over fifteen thousand Haitians already being held on Guantánamo after fleeing a violent coup in Haiti. Escape to Miami recounts the gripping stories of the rafters who were detained in Guantánamo during the 1994-1996 Cuban Rafter Crisis. After working in the camps for a year as an employee of the U.S. Justice Department, Elizabeth Campisi conducted life history interviews with twelve of the rafters, chronicling their departures from Cuba, their rafting trips, life on the base, and their initial experiences in Cuban Miami. Through these remarkable narratives, the book details the ways in which the rafters used creative expression, such as performance and artwork, to cope with the traumas they experienced in the camp. Campisi explores these coping mechanisms, showing that, when people work through individually-traumatic experiences as a group, the new meanings they create during that process can come together to change existing cultures or create new ones. Vivid and engaging, Escape to Miami gives voice to the untold stories of Guantánamo. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in policy, Latin American history, and human rights"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 189-206) and index. |
| Access restriction | Available only to authorized users. |
| Technical details | Mode of access: World Wide Web |
| Genre/form | Electronic books. |
| LCCN | 2015044421 |
| ISBN | 9780199946877 (hardback) |
