Saboreando Cuba: Corporalidad Y Gastronomia En La Produccion Cultural Cubana Y Cubano Americana (1980 2000).

This dissertation examines the way in which Cuban and Cuban-American artistic production created within the Special period represents Cuban identity through metaphors of food and its relation to the body. This project includes artists currently living in Cuba (Jose Pedro Torriente, Tomas Gutierrez Alea, Jose Millian) and also those Cubans who are currently residing abroad (Zoe Valdes, Daina Chaviano, Dolores Prida). I analyze how through different cultural forms (theater, short fiction, performance, film and music), writers incorporate gastronomical images or metaphors to portray the metamorphosis the Cuban body undergoes in defining its cultural identity during this challenging historical period. I specifically analyze the role of food in representing acculturation, nostalgia and political disenchantment.