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In Clandestinas, Carollee Bengelsdorf challenges the silences surrounding women’s participation in the insurrection in Havana during the Cuban Revolution. The official narrative of the revolution emphasizes virtually exclusively the role of the guerrillas in the sierra in defeating the Batista dictatorship, thereby diminishing the centrality of the urban underground. Given that women insurrectionists were overwhelmingly concentrated in the cities, this inevitably meant that their presence was diminished as well. But even in the urban movements, women are portrayed as secondary, as enablers of the men who do the real fighting. Drawing on fieldwork and in-depth interviews with over thirty former clandestinas, Bengelsdorf surfaces a different narrative. She paints a portrait detailing the lives of women and the actions in which they were involved in the clandestinidad. She briefly examines the trauma each of her interviewees experienced to different degrees both during and after the dictatorship’s downfall. The book includes a visual essay with photographs curated by Susan Meiselas.
Price: $34.00
Pages: 304
Publisher: Duke University Press
Imprint: Duke University Press
Publication Date:
17 October 2025
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9781478032199
Format: Paperback
BISACs:
“Although I was familiar with various of the anecdotes and testimonies, I found Clandestinas impossible to put down. It reads like a novel! Carolee Bengelsdorf’s book is of the utmost importance to those wanting to approach Cuban history from the perspective of the real participation of women insurrectionists and how their contributions have been silenced not only in Cuba but in Latin America as well. Bengelsdorf has crafted an incredibly brave and compelling account of the women in clandestinidad.”—Margarita Mateo Palmer, Cuban critic, essayist, and novelist
“Clandestinas is rich with detail and filled with insight into the public lives and private experiences of women who immersed themselves into the multiple and multifaceted perils associated with political resistance. Subverting the premise that the success of the Cuban revolution was an achievement principally of men, Carollee Bengelsdorf provides a compelling and much-needed counternarrative to what has settled into a conventional account. This impressive book will make a decisive contribution to a deeper understanding of the complexities of the Cuban revolutionary war and its aftermath.”—Louis A. Pérez Jr., author of, Colonial Reckoning: Race and Revolution in Nineteenth-Century Cuba
"Critically important. . . . Bengelsdorf’s book [is] required reading."—Gavin O'Toole, Latin American Review of Books
“Clandestinas is rich with detail and filled with insight into the public lives and private experiences of women who immersed themselves into the multiple and multifaceted perils associated with political resistance. Subverting the premise that the success of the Cuban revolution was an achievement principally of men, Carollee Bengelsdorf provides a compelling and much-needed counternarrative to what has settled into a conventional account. This impressive book will make a decisive contribution to a deeper understanding of the complexities of the Cuban revolutionary war and its aftermath.”—Louis A. Pérez Jr., author of, Colonial Reckoning: Race and Revolution in Nineteenth-Century Cuba
"Critically important. . . . Bengelsdorf’s book [is] required reading."—Gavin O'Toole, Latin American Review of Books
Carollee Bengelsdorf is Professor Emerita of Politics and Critical Social Inquiry at Hampshire College, author of The Problem of Democracy in Cuba: Between Vision and Reality, and coeditor of The Selected Writings of Eqbal Ahmad.
Susan Meiselas is a documentary photographer and MacArthur Fellow who has covered human rights issues in Latin America.
Susan Meiselas is a documentary photographer and MacArthur Fellow who has covered human rights issues in Latin America.
Abbreviations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1. Batista’s Quest for Legitimacy 21
2. Disrupting the Narrative: The Frento Cívico de Mujeres Martianas 30
3. Male Bonding: The Sierra Versus the Llano 57
4. The Clandestinas: Why They Were, Who They Were, How They Were 81
5. Clandestinas in Havana: What They Did 105
6. The Uses of Torture 128
7. Aftermaths: Forgetting and Remembering 152
8. Children 166
Epilogue: América Domitro 177
Clandestinas: A Visual Essay / Compiled by Susan Meiselas 179
Notes 231
Bibliography 261
Index 275
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1. Batista’s Quest for Legitimacy 21
2. Disrupting the Narrative: The Frento Cívico de Mujeres Martianas 30
3. Male Bonding: The Sierra Versus the Llano 57
4. The Clandestinas: Why They Were, Who They Were, How They Were 81
5. Clandestinas in Havana: What They Did 105
6. The Uses of Torture 128
7. Aftermaths: Forgetting and Remembering 152
8. Children 166
Epilogue: América Domitro 177
Clandestinas: A Visual Essay / Compiled by Susan Meiselas 179
Notes 231
Bibliography 261
Index 275