Reinvenciones raciales en el turismo blanco del dólar: Yara La China y Yindra de Oriente, dos personajes de El Ciervo Encantado

Abstracts: In the context of economic inequality generated by the “dollarization” of the Cuban economy, the theater collective El Ciervo Encantado portrays tourism and its impact on everyday life in Havana. In this article, I focus on the protagonists of two El Ciervo Encantado pieces, their satirical critique of tourism tropes, and of the racially inflected concept of buena presencia , to demonstrate how Cubalandia and ¡Guan Melón! ¡Tu Melón! illuminate the social inequalities and racialist discourse underlying Cuban tourism. In Cubalandia , a protagonist obsessed with whiteness and luxury fails to portray a resourceful woman who knows how to navigate the dual economy. On the other hand, in ¡Guan Melón! ¡Tu Melón , the protagonist strategically embodies the mulata stereotype to sell a notion of Cuban authenticity. Both protagonists address the audience directly as tourists which, in combination with the other elements of the performance, leads the spectators to question themselves as participants of the economic inequality of Cuban tourism.