Chapter 3: Identity, Family and Community Amongst the Jewbans

One of the questions I asked all of the people I interviewed was the degree to which they identify as Cuba, Jewish, Jewban or all of the above. This produced some interesting findings, discussed herein. Eric Erikson, perhaps the father of the study of the formation of identity, noted the importance of adolescence as a phase in building one’s connection to the values, beliefs, and practices of its religious and/or ethnic group. Given the disruption during adolescence that the revolution created, it is easy to see how this played a significant role in understanding the exile’s sense of their Cuban Jewish identity. These narratives about identity have then been passed along to family members. Further, I asked all interviewees their thoughts on the importance of family and community to the Jewbans, both during their time in Cuba as well as in the US and in the three different generations. Universally there was agreement that family is the most important thing, even when there are significant disagreements. They believe this to be a Jewish thing and a value that was emphasized in Cuba as well, but not specifically a Jewban characteristic. Interrelated to family is community, as both in Cuba and in the US the family formed its own community with others, typically other Jewbans, added but never replacing family as the most important people.