Othering the state: invoking power in Cuba and beyond

Anthropologists have documented the tendency of certain populations to conceptualize state authorities as an Other, a ‘they’, distinct from ‘us’, the struggling majority. This study examines contemporary Cuba to shed light on this phenomenon. Based on fieldwork among market traders in Havana, I analyse the inclination to characterize state power as an ominous ‘they’ as a response to a form of statecraft that presents itself as homogeneous and insurmountable yet remains unaccountable to ordinary people, within a worsening political economy. By using the third‐person plural to comment on the state system's illegitimacies and failures, Cubans performatively distance themselves from official rule. These linguistic habits underscore the importance of moving beyond the analytical approach of deconstructing binaries of ‘us’ and ‘them’, ‘state’ and ‘people’, and rather explore how citizens use them as semiotic resources to invoke and critique power.