Questioning the Cuban Exile Model: Race, Gender, and Resettlement, 1959-1979

Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach, Current offers a fresh approach to a topic that has received a fair amount of attention. She questions traditional narratives on first and second wave Cuban immigration that construct a monolithic Cuban experience and identity. This traditional singular identity and experience is the basis of the Exile Model, which presents Cubans as overtly political, highly educated, universally white, economically successful, residents of Miami, and martyrs of Castro's revolution. This oversimplification ignores the structural assistance that facilitated the Cuban success story, the racial and economic plurality of Cuban immigration, and the existence of Cuban communities outside of Miami.