The Coolie Speaksfocuses on Chinese laborers who worked side by side with African slaves in Cuba and wrote of their experiences of new bondage. Examining these narratives of resistance, the book reconceptualizes diasporic representations and histories to offer transformative re-examinations of "Chinese," "African," and "Latino" in mutually imbricated contexts.
"The book begins with an impressive contextualization of the movement of coolie labor across the Pacific, by far the most detailed analysis at hand. The core of Yun’s book, however, is an examination of the coolie testimonies themselves.... This is a major addition to our understanding of the subjectivity of subaltern peoples and of the power relations in which subaltern texts are embedded. It should be obligatory reading for historians working in many fields—Latin American and Caribbean history, most obviously, but also the politics of testimonial production in general."
—The American Historical Review
"The Coolie Speaksis a breakthrough of scholarship. It provides a new map not just of the Atlantic slave trade, Chinese diaspora, and modern capitalism, but of scholarly means to articulate the words, places, and stories that tumble outward from the violent and fractured history of modernity. Like Toni Morrison’sBeloved,The Coolie Speaksseems to find a root language to remember and memorialize human suffering and agency, while teaching us again as scholars and citizens of the world to listen carefully to the cries, whispers, and exhortations of the past."
—Callaloo
“[L]ittle critical attention has been paid to one of the most important testimonials in Latin American history: The Cuba Commission Report. Lisa Yun’s timely and well-written book is undoubtedly the most complete study to date on this jewlS&
![The Coolie Speaks: Chinese Indentured Laborers and African Slaves in Cuba [Hardcover]](/itemImage/2/4/1/2/2_6990014.jpg "The Coolie Speaks: Chinese Indentured Laborers and African Slaves in Cuba [Hardcover]")