"Dangerous" Youth: Tourism Space, Gender Performance, and the Policing of Havana Street Hustlers. (November 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hodge, G. Derrick
• Is Part Of: Journal of Latin American and Caribbean anthropology. Volume 19:Number 3(2014)
• Page Start: 441
• Page End: 472
• Publication Date: 2014-11
• Subjects: Ethnology -- Latin America -- Periodicals; Latin America -- Social life and customs -- Periodicals; Anthropology -- Latin America -- Periodicals
• DOI: 10.1111/jlca.12104
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1935-4932

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>Development of the tourism sector saved the Cuban economy from the economic collapse of the 1990s, but it also produced new problems of social control for which existing institutions were inadequate: migration to Havana overburdened urban infrastructure; tourism introduced new values and behaviors that were inconsistent with revolutionary norms; and the Revolution's image was threatened by the emergence of con artists, petty thieves, and sex workers. The solution was the creation of a new police force that operates in tourism zones and monitors Cuban/tourist interactions. Though these "Specialized Police" harass street youth, the ethnographic data indicate that both hustlers and officers share a gender logic that at times renders them collegial. Both hustlers and police occupy a complex and uncertain location in relation to shifting cultural borders of the nation and state. The analysis engages with critical geography and gender performance theory to understand the street youths' words and experiences.</p> </abstract>