Historicizing Sexuality in the Cuban Revolution: The Spectral “Before”

What should be the place of the Cuban Republic in histories of sexuality under the revolution? This essay argues that scholarly accounts of gender and sexuality in post-1959 Cuba want for a fuller engagement with their pre-1959 context. In particular, it seeks to open up a conversation about questions and topics in the history of sexuality that might straddle the 1959 divide, as well as the historiographical (and political) consequences of writing across it.