Reading Beyond the Love Lines: Examining CubanJineteras’ Discourses of Love for Europeans

This paper discusses mobility and migration, focusing mainly on the cases of Afro‐Cuban jineteras who seek relationships with Europeans. Healthy (educated) hookers or decadent women? While Cuban government officials condemn the actions of Cuban jineteras, society and the Cuban family often refer to them as luchadoras (fighters). The paper introduces the voices of Cuban jineteras in debates of jineterismo and migration in order to develop a broader understanding of the concept. Drawing on ethnographic research in Havana and the UK, I argue that what makes jineterismo a complex concept is that it encompasses a wide range of actions, including the desire to love the (idealised) European man, and in many cases, the aspiration to migrate to Europe.