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Author: Philip Brenner
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0742555062
Category : Cuba
Languages : en
Pages : 430
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Book Description
A collection of essays that explore a wide range of topics related to Cuban politics, economics, foreign policy, social transformation, and culture in the post-Soviet era.
Author: Philip Brenner
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0742555062
Category : Cuba
Languages : en
Pages : 430
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Book Description
A collection of essays that explore a wide range of topics related to Cuban politics, economics, foreign policy, social transformation, and culture in the post-Soviet era.
Author: Pedro Pérez Sarduy
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813065550
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 292
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Book Description
From the forewords: "At a time when Cuba is undergoing immense economic and social changes, race becomes a kind of cultural litmus test for the national identity. . . . This anthology illustrates fully that it is possible to be both revolutionary and black in Cuba."—Manning Marable, Columbia University "The authors of Afro-Cuban Voices, also key actors in the new, unfolding dialogue about race in Cuba, make a seminal contribution through a forthright critique of ‘racial blind spots’ in official history and present-day racial discrimination."—James Early, director of cultural studies and communication, Smithsonian Institution From the series editor: "A courageous attempt to deal head-on with the issue of race in Cuba today. . . . Pérez Sarduy and Stubbs [seek to] put a human face on this debate, and do so well. The book will be received with relief by some and with frustration by others. Controversial it will undoubtedly be, since—as with most things Cuban—strong emotions are a given assumption. It will be an admirable beginning for the series and, it is hoped, will spark a much-needed debate in the United States on many aspects of the ‘Cuban question.’ It is about time."—John M. Kirk Based on the vivid firsthand testimony of prominent Afro-Cubans who live in Cuba, this book of interviews looks at ways that race affects daily life on the island. While celebrating their racial and national identity, the collected voices express an urgent need to end the silences and distortions of history in both pre- and postrevolutionary Cuba. The 14 people interviewed—of different generations and from different geographic areas of Cuba—come from the arts, the media, industry, academia, and medicine. They include a doctor who calls for joint U.S.-Cuban studies on high blood pressure and a craftsman who makes the batá drums used in Yoruba worship ceremonies. All responded to four controversial questions: What is it like to be black in Cuba? How has the revolution made a difference? To what extent is that difference true today? What can be done? Exposing the contradictions of both racial stereotyping and cultural assimilation, their eloquent answers make the case that the issue of race in Cuba, no matter how hard to define, will not be ignored. A volume in the series Contemporary Cuba, edited by John M. Kirk
Author: Marc Frank
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813047846
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 469
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Book Description
In Cuban Revelations, Marc Frank offers a first-hand account of daily life in Cuba at the turn of the twenty-first century, the start of a new and dramatic epoch for islanders and the Cuban diaspora. A U.S.-born journalist who has called Havana home for almost a quarter century, Frank observed in person the best days of the revolution, the fall of the Soviet Bloc, the great depression of the 1990s, the stepping aside of Fidel Castro, and the reforms now being devised by his brother. Examining the effects of U.S. policy toward Cuba, Frank analyzes why Cuba has entered an extraordinary, irreversible period of change and considers what the island's future holds. The enormous social engineering project taking place today under Raúl's leadership is fraught with many dangers, and Cuban Revelations follows the new leader's efforts to overcome bureaucratic resistance and the fears of a populace that stand in his way. In addition, Frank offers a colorful chronicle of his travels across the island's many and varied provinces, sharing candid interviews with people from all walks of life. He takes the reader outside the capital to reveal how ordinary Cubans live and what they are thinking and feeling as fifty-year-old social and economic taboos are broken. He shares his honest and unbiased observations on extraordinary positive developments in social matters, like healthcare and education, as well as on the inefficiencies in the Cuban economy.
Author: Bretton White
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 1683401816
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 259
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Book Description
This visionary volume examines how queer bodies are theatrically represented on the Cuban stage in ways that challenge one of the state’s primary revolutionary tools, the categorization and homogenization of individuals. Bretton White critically analyzes contemporary performances that upset traditional understandings of performer and spectator, as well as what constitutes the ideal Cuban citizenry. Following the 1959 revolution, nonconformists were monitored and reported by local committees and punished or reformed by the government. Censorship was rampant, and Cuban art suffered as the state tried to control the national message. Through the lens of queer theory, White explores how the body has been central to the state’s fear-based marginalization of gay life and looks at the ways these theatrical performances defuse that fear. She highlights the revolutionary model of masculinity and the role it plays in excluding people based upon visible queer difference. White finds that, through experimental performances of sexuality, actors create connections with audiences to evoke shared feelings of discomfort, intimacy, shame, longing, frustration, and failure, which echo the prevalence of these feelings in other Cuban spaces. By performing queerness, these plays question the state’s narrative of heteronormativity and empower citizens to negotiate alternative understandings of Cuban identity.
Author: Suki John
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 0786493259
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 233
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Book Description
The lens of dance can provide a multifaceted view of the present-day Cuban experience. Cuban contemporary dance, or tecnica cubana as it is known throughout Latin America, is a highly evolved hybrid of ballet, North American modern dance, Afro-Cuban tradition, flamenco and Cuban nightclub cabaret. Unlike most dance forms, tecnica was created intentionally with government backing. For Cuba, a dancing country, it was natural--and highly effective--for the Revolutionary regime to link national image with the visceral power of dance. Written by a dancer who traveled and worked in Cuba from the 1970s to the present, this book provides an inside look at daily life in Cuba. From watching the great Alicia Alonso, to describing the economic trials of the 1990s "Special Period," the author uses history, humor, personal experience, rich description and extensive interviews to reveal contemporary life and dance in Cuba.
Author: Mauricio A. Font
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131725841X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 446
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Book Description
Cuban studies is a highly dynamic field shaped by the country's distinctive political and economic circumstances. Mauricio A. Font and Carlos Riobo offer an up-to-date and comprehensive survey offering the latest research available from a broad array of disciplines and perspectives. The Handbook of Contemporary Cuba brings contributions from leading scholars from the United States, Cuba, Europe, and other world regions and introduces the reader to the key literature in the field in relation to rapidly changing events on the island and in global political and economic affairs. It also addresses timely developments in Cuban civil society and human rights. The guide also presents economic models and forecasts as well as analyses of the recent, pivotal Sixth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba. For students, scholars, and experts in government, it is a vital addition to any collection on Latin American studies or global politics.
Author: Laura Salas Redondo
Publisher: Rizzoli Publications
ISBN: 8891820601
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 346
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Book Description
A stunning visual survey of the arts scene of Cuba since the 1980s, this is a must-have book for all contemporary art lovers. This unique volume describes how powerful the Cuban art experience has become, especially after the emergence of Cuba's strong generation of young creatives on the Latin American art scene in the 1980s. It includes twenty-eight artists selected by the curators and introduced through contributions and interviews. Today, many of the contemporary Cuban artists can be found in the collections of some of the world's premier museums and art galleries. Now that Cuba and the United States have opened a new chapter in their relations, Cuban art is poised to be the next big thing in the art world.
Author: Andrea J. Queeley
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813063086
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 281
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Book Description
"Contributes new perspectives on historical black identity formation and contemporary activism in Cuba."--Choice "Provides invaluable insight into the histories and lives of Cubans who trace their origins to the Anglo-Caribbean."--Robert Whitney, author of State and Revolution in Cuba: Mass Mobilization and Political Change, 1920-1940 "Adds a missing piece to the existing literature about the renewal of black activism in Cuba, all the while showing the links and fractures between pre- and post-1959 society."--Devyn Spence Benson, Davidson College In the early twentieth century, laborers from the British West Indies immigrated to Cuba, attracted by employment opportunities. The Anglo-Caribbean communities flourished, but after 1959, many of their cultural institutions were dismantled: the revolution dictated that in the name of unity there would be no hyphenated Cubans. This book turns an ethnographic lens on their descendants who--during the Special Period in the 1990s--moved to "rescue their roots" by revitalizing their ethnic associations and reestablishing ties outside the island. Based on Andrea J. Queeley's fieldwork in Santiago and Guantánamo, Rescuing Our Roots looks at local and regional identity formations as well as racial politics in revolutionary Cuba. Queeley argues that, as the island experienced a resurgence in racism due in part to the emergence of the dual economy and the reliance on tourism, Anglo-Caribbean Cubans revitalized their communities and sought transnational connections not just in the hope of material support but also to challenge the association between blackness, inferiority, and immorality. Their desire for social mobility, political engagement, and a better economic situation operated alongside the fight for black respectability. Unlike most studies of black Cubans, which focus on Afro-Cuban religion or popular culture, Queeley's penetrating investigation offers a view of strategies and modes of black belonging that transcend ideological, temporal, and spatial boundaries. A volume in the series Contemporary Cuba, edited by John M. Kirk
Author: Yvonne Daniel
Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN: 9780253209481
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 212
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Book Description
Using dance anthropology to illuminate the values and attitudes embodied in rumba, Yvonne Daniel explores the surprising relationship between dance and the profound, complex changes in contemporary Cuba. From the barrio and streets to the theatre and stage, rumba has emerged as an important medium, contributing to national goals, reinforcing Caribbean solidarity, and promoting international prestige. Since the Revolution of 1959, rumba has celebrated national identity and cultural heritage, and embodied an official commitment to new values. Once a lower-class recreational dance, rumba has become a symbol of egalitarian efforts in postrevolutionary Cuba. The professionalization of performers, organization of performance spaces, and proliferation of performance opportunities have prompted new paradigms and altered previous understandings of rumba.
Author: Nadine T Fernandez
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 081354923X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 231
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Book Description
Scholars have long heralded mestizaje, or race mixing, as the essence of the Cuban nation. Revolutionizing Romance is an account of the continuing significance of race in Cuba as it is experienced in interracial relationships. This ethnography tracks young couples as they move in a world fraught with shifting connections of class, race, and culture that are reflected in space, racialized language, and media representations of blackness, whiteness, and mixedness. As one of the few scholars to conduct long-term anthropological fieldwork in the island nation, Nadine T. Fernandez offers a rare insider's view of the country's transformations during the post-Soviet era. Following a comprehensive history of racial formations up through Castro's rule, the book then delves into more intimate and contemporary spaces. Language, space and place, foreign tourism, and the realm of the family each reveal, through the author's deft analysis, the paradox of living a racialized life in a nation that celebrates a policy of colorblind equality.
