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This book explores the humanities as an insightful platform for understanding and responding to the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, other manifestations of "Guantánamo," and the contested place of freedom in American Empire. It presents the work of scholars and writers based in Cuba´s Guantánamo Province and various parts of the US. Its essays, short stories, poetry, and other texts engage the far-reaching meaning and significance of Gitmo by bringing together what happens on the U.S. side of the fence-or "la cerca," as it is called in Cuba-with perspectives from the outside world. Chapters include critiques of artistic renderings of the Guantánamo region; historical narratives contemplating the significance of freedom; analyses of the ways the base and region inform the Cuban imaginary; and fiction and poetry published for the first time in English. Not simply a critique of imperialism, this volume presents politically engaged commentary that suggests a way forward for a site of global contact and conflict.

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1. Finding Guantánamo: Freedom, Paradox, and Poetry - Don E. Walicek and Jessica Adams.- 2. "The Amen Temple of Empire - Diana Murtaugh Coleman.- 3. Responding to Erasure - Don E. Walicek.- 4. The Many Bodies of Mos Def: Notes for an Unremarkable Poem on Failure" - Guillermo Rebollo Gil.- 5. Storytelling and Truth-telling: Testimonial Narratives in The Road to Guantánamo and Guantánamo: ´Honor Bound to Defend to Freedom´ - A. Naomi Paik.- 6. Guantánamo and Community: Visual Approaches to the Naval Base - Esther Whitfield.- 7. Ana Luz García Calzada´s "Breathing Room" and "Kites" (fiction) with an introduction by the author, translated by Jessica Adams, Sean Manning, and Don E. Walicek.- 8. José Sánchez Guerra´s "Guantánamo: In the Eye of the Hurricane;" translated by Andrew Hurley.- 9. Where´s Guantánamo in Granma ? Competing Discourses on Detention and Terrorism - Jana Lipman.- 10. Poetic Imaginings of the Real Guantánamo (No, Not the Base) - Laurie Frederik.- 11. Poetry and the Enemy´s Arrows: An Interview with José Ramón Sánchez Leyva - José Ramón Sánchez Leyva and Don. E. Walicek, translated by Eduardo Rodríguez Santiago.- 12. Selected poetry- José Ramón Sánchez Leyva, with translations by Jessica Adams and Don E. Walicek.-

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Don E. Walicek is Associate Professor of English and Linguistics in the College of Humanities at the University of Puerto Rico´s Río Piedras Campus. He is the Editor of the journal Sargasso and the author of numerous chapters and articles on language and social life in the Caribbean.



Jessica Adams is Assistant Professor of English and a member of the General Studies faculty at the University of Puerto Rico´s Río Piedras Campus. Her previous publications include Wounds of Returning: Race, Memory, and Property on the Post-Slavery Plantation.

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