Drawing on nine months of participant observation of intimate encounters between foreign tourist and Cuban people, the article focuses on the practical uses of these stereotypes in everyday touristic interactions on the island.
On the one hand, it appears that the caliente stereotype can help bring Cubans and tourists together, facilitating sexual encounters between them. Examining this tension, the article follows the vicissitudes of the caliente Cuban and teases out its alternative interpretations as national trait, tactical instrument, or expression of love.
What emerges is that in responding to different demands and aspirations, the protagonists of touristic encounters work over notions of intimacy, redrawing lines of belonging and exclusion.
Building on current anthropological debates in the fields of tourism, love, morality, and the politics of culture, the article provides an approach to stereotypes in everyday life that helps us rethink anthropological conceptions of cultural intimacy, and sheds new light on its contemporary transformations.
I wish to thank the editors of this Special Issue and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions. This article would not have been possible without the collaboration of the several foreign tourists and Cuban people I encountered during fieldwork in Cuba, and my deepest gratitude goes to them. I had provided pen and paper, and was in charge of the English translation.
