From worker to owner: Emerging articulations of ‘trabajo’ and ‘negocio’ in return migration to Cuba

<ns3:p> Background Since 2012, changes in Cuban migration law and the expansion of private enterprise encouraged migrants living in Europe to return to Cuba. This article explores how returnee men evaluate economic life in Cuba in contrast to their former host countries, particularly in relation to their shift from low-status jobs abroad to entrepreneurial pursuits back home. Methods The study draws on long-term ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2005 and 2023, including participant observation and in-depth conversations with approximately 15–20 Cuban returnees. Most had recently resettled in Cuba after extended periods in various European countries. Data collection focused on the moral and practical dimensions of economic reintegration, the narratives of economic success and failure, and the local reception of returnees’ trajectories. Results Returnees framed their migration as a moral and economic journey, leading them from <ns3:italic>trabajo</ns3:italic> (work) to <ns3:italic>negocio</ns3:italic> (business), and from employee to owner ( <ns3:italic>dueño</ns3:italic> ). Their narratives often emphasized competence, entrepreneurial drive, and transnational experience. However, many struggled to meet expectations of success, facing skepticism from locals and economic precarity despite apparent privilege. Some leveraged the prestige of their foreign experience, while others embraced informal and localized modes of entrepreneurship— <ns3:italic>negocios “a lo Cubano”</ns3:italic> —to adapt. These accounts highlight both performative enactments of success and the fragility of such claims in Cuba’s shifting socio-economic landscape. Conclusions Returnees’ experiences show how migration is revalued—materially, morally, and symbolically—to stake claims about economic opportunity and personal worth in Cuba’s shifting present and imagined futures. Their narratives shed light on changing understandings of success, mobility, and the meanings of work and business on the island. In doing so, the article contributes to anthropological debates on how migration, morality, and economic life intersect and are reconfigured in times of crisis and transformation. </ns3:p>