A New No-Man’s-Land

Between ideological, economic, moral, and social incompatibilities . . . Esther Whitfield seeks to find common ground.

* Times Literary Supplement *

This unique, interdisciplinary study analyzes literary and artistic works by former Guantanamo detainees, US military personnel, and residents living on the Cuban side. . . . An excellent study.

* Choice Reviews *

A New No-Man’s-Land is an outstanding and original contribution to the study of Cuba and to the study of the U.S. detention center. With nuance and grace, Whitfield demonstrates how art and poetry allow us to see Guantánamo in new ways. Her juxtapositions, her eye for detail, and her original analysis force a new understanding about the histories of detention, imperialism, and coexistence in this fraught piece of land called Guantánamo.

* Cuban Studies *

Profoundly poetic and ethically resonant, A New No-Man’s Land is not just an academic work—it is a call to reimagine belonging, empathy, and resistance in the face of overwhelming political forces.

* NACLA *

Conceptually sophisticated and methodologically bold, A New No-Man’s Land achieves that singular feat of being both a pleasure to read and a superbly researched scholarly contribution to several fields of study, ranging from Latin American cultural and literary studies, American studies, Cuban studies, ecocriticism, and comparative literature.

* Revista, Harvard Review of Latin American *

This outstanding book humanizes one of the most complex areas of the world in the last decades. The excellent research and elegant, measured prose reveal the human cost involved in indefinite isolation and extreme vulnerability, the intimacies that arise in the process, and the value of artistic expression to remain human even in inhuman conditions.

-- Guillermina De Ferrari, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Bringing together archives from the Cuban region of Guantánamo and its role in the War on Terror, Whitfield traces intimacies and themes that echo across this fraught space. A New No-Man’s-Land’s careful analysis of Spanish and Anglophone local and transnational texts offers a vital corrective to singular readings of Guantánamo since it first began housing War on Terror detainees in 2002. Be sure to read to the end.

-- Alexandra S. Moore, Binghamton University

In this definitive study of Guantánamera cultural production, Whitfield highlights not divisions but the site’s environmental commonalities, unexpected and asymmetric connections, and moments of care and beauty. The fascinating, little-known stories of creativity and life illuminated here map a potential postconflict terrain—one already blooming in the fissures of the ostensible no-man’s-land.

-- Rachel Price, Princeton University

This is a necessary book, not only for the evident quality of its research but also for its contribution toward broadening the scope of Cuban studies.

-- José Quiroga, Emory Univer