The emergence of the feminist network Magín in Cuba in the
mid-1990s challenged the monopoly of the official women's
organization over issues related to women. Magín came into being as
a result of encounters with feminists in international meetings, and it
grew and developed through transnational support. Yet the organization did
not extend beyond a small group of professional women and eventually the
state closed it down. This article probes the question of why autonomous
feminist organizing did not succeed in Cuba, particularly given a window
of opportunity presented by the collapse of the Soviet Union. I suggest
that the nature of transnational networks, combined with the political
hegemony of the Cuban government, limited the scope of Magín as an
independent women's organization. Although transnational advocacy
networks helped Cuban feminists to create new spaces for dialogue, they
also encouraged tendencies of specialization and professionalization that
led the women to forgo the possibility of building a broad-based
autonomous movement. An analysis of feminist networks in Cuba can
contribute to our knowledge of the pitfalls and promises of
transnationalism, particularly in nonliberal democratic contexts.This research was made possible by support from
the Social Sciences Research Council, the University of Chicago, and
Princeton University. I am grateful to the women of Magín who gave
generously of their time to share their experiences and ideas. In
particular, I would like to thank Norma Guillard for providing materials
and carrying out investigations for me long distance. Thanks to Mervyn
Bain, Matt Cleary, Elisabeth Friedman, Kathryn Hochstetler, Catherine
Murphy, Hairong Yan, and anonymous reviewers and editors of Politics
& Gender for crucial feedback and/or enlightening
conversations. An earlier version of this article was presented at the
American Political Science Association meetings in Chicago, September
2004.