Society & Culture
Information and Resources
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Society & Culture Experts
The following is a list of recognized Cuba experts who are not affiliated with the Cuba Study Group -
IRI Cuban Public Opinion Survery (Nov. 8-30, 2008)
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Cuban National Reconciliation
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Cuban National Ballet
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Encuentro Magazine
Suggested Books
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Culture and the Cuban Revolution: Conversations in Havana
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Description -
John M. Kirk and Leonardo Padura Fuentes
University Press of Florida (2001)
This unusual collaboration between a Cuban novelist and a Canadian professor offers uncensored and frank interviews with prominent figures of contemporary Cuban cultural life, from a Grammy-winning jazz artist to world-class filmmakers and actors, writers, ballet dancers, and dramatists. The thirteen people interviewed played a leading role in cultural life during the years of the revolutionary process and today are considered official Cuban figures. -
Cuba Represent!: Cuban Arts, State Power, and the Making of New Revolutionary Cultures
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Sujatha Fernandes
Duke University Press (2006)
In Cuba something curious has happened over the past fifteen years. The government has allowed vocal criticism of its policies to be expressed within the arts. Filmmakers, rappers, and visual and performance artists have addressed sensitive issues including bureaucracy, racial and gender discrimination, emigration, and alienation. How can this vibrant body of work be reconciled with the standard representations of a repressive, authoritarian cultural apparatus? In Cuba Represent! Sujatha Fernandes—a scholar and musician who has performed in Cuba—answers that question. Combining textual analyses of films, rap songs, and visual artworks; ethnographic material collected in Cuba; and insights into the nation’s history and political economy, Fernandes details the new forms of engagement with official institutions that have opened up as a result of changing relationships between state and society in the post-Soviet period. She demonstrates that in a moment of extreme hardship and uncertainty, the Cuban state has moved to a more permeable model of power. Artists and other members of the public are collaborating with government actors to partially incorporate critical cultural expressions into official discourse. The Cuban leadership has come to recognize the benefits of supporting artists: rappers offer a link to increasingly frustrated black youth in Cuba; visual artists are an important source of international prestige and hard currency; and films help unify Cubans through community discourse about the nation. Cuba Represent! reveals that part of the socialist government’s resilience stems from its ability to absorb oppositional ideas and values. -
This Is Cuba: An Outlaw Culture Survives
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Description -
Ben Corbett
Westview Press (2004)
A colorful first-person account of living on the fringes of Castro's Cuba, and a splendid evocation of the modern Cuban character. Beyond the throngs of tourists streaming through Central Havana's broad Prado Avenue, and outside the yoke of Castro's 43-year-old Revolutionary program, there exists a parallel Cuba - a separate evolution of a people struggling to survive. With personal stories that depict a people torn between following the directives of their government and finding a way to better their lot, journalist Ben Corbett gives us the daily life of many considered outlaws by Castro's regime. But are they outlaws or rather ingenious survivors of what many Cubans consider to be a forty-year mistake, a tangle of contradictions that has resulted in a strange hybrid of American-style capitalism and a homegrown black market economy. At a time when Cuba walks precariously on the ledge between socialism and capitalism, This Is Cuba gets to the heart of this so-called outlaw culture, taking readers into the living rooms, rooftops, parks, and city streets to hear stories of frustration, hope, and survival. Updated with a new preface. -
Essays in Cuban Intellectual History
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Rafael Rojas
Palgrave Macmillan (2008)
Well-known essayist Rafael Rojas presents a collection of his best work, one which focuses on--and offers alternatives to--the central myths that have organized Cuban culture from the nineteenth century to the present. Topics covered include José Martí, Fernando Ortiz, and broader concepts of diaspora and memory in the Cuban literary canon. -
The Changing Dynamic of Cuban Civil Society
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Description -
Alexander I. Gray and Antoni Kapcia (Editors)
University Press of Florida (2008)
Does a civil society actually exist in Cuba today and if so what is its nature and role? In seeking answers to this hotly contested and highly politicized question, Alexander Gray and Antoni Kapcia have assembled an impressive and diverse group of contributors. The essays in The Changing Dynamic of Cuban Civil Society range from general discussion of the private sector to case studies about volunteer work, religious entities, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Since the fall of the Soviet Union and the economic crisis in 1990, the Cuban state has experienced severe challenges, and individuals have been forced to respond in unexpected ways to ensure their economic survival. Avoiding polemics and preconceptions, this volume brings a fresh and welcome perspective to one of the most vexing issues in Cuban society today. Alexander I. Gray is a researcher in the European Network of Excellence on International Migration, Integration, and Social Cohesion. Antoni Kapcia is professor of Latin American history at the University of Nottingham and professor invitado at the University of Havana. -
Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy
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Carlos Eire
Free Press (2003)
Eire's complex, introspective memoir begins the day his world changed: when Castro's troops sent President Batista into exile far from Cuba in 1959. The son of a judge who believed himself to be Louis XVI reincarnated, Carlos, along with his older brother, Tony, spent his days playing with fireworks and lizards. He attended an elite school, where Batista's children were his classmates. Carlos' biggest worries were the disapproving stares he received from a portrait of Maria Theresa of Austria and Jesus, who would sometimes appear in the window to him. All of that changed when Castro came to power; suddenly, attending a prestigious school or driving a classy car was dangerous. The Eire family remained in Cuba even as others left, until finally Eire's parents sent Carlos and Tony to Florida, where a very different life awaited them. Years passed before their mother joined them, but Carlos never saw his father again. In this open, honest, and at times angry memoir, Eire bares his soul completely and captivates the reader in the process. Kristine Huntley Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Articles, Opinions, and Papers
April 2012
Cuban artists find financial support online
April 24, 2012
CNN.com International
Havana (CNN) - Rafael Villares is a talented Cuban artist who appears to work effortlessly in mediums such as painting and sculpture.But for years, he has had an even more ambitious project in mind, one that seems like a fantasy from a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel.
The Washington Post
HAVANA - Nobody thinks the beautiful game is about to run baseball off this Caribbean island, although it's indisputable that Cubans have developed a near-fanatic interest in Messi and Ronaldo, Kaka and Xavi.
Cuba's motorcycle culture roaring back to life
April 17, 2012
CNN.com International
Varadero, Cuba (CNN) - Decades navigating the roads in Cuba have left deep scars on Sergio Morales' jet black 1947 Harley-Davidson motorcycle.The Harley's frame is a battlefield of craters and gashes.
March 2012
Papal visit sparks hope in Cuba
March 28, 2012
BBC News
Pope Benedict will say mass in Havana's Revolution Square on Wednesday, the final event in his three day visit to Cuba.He has used the occasion to call for 'renewal' on the island, but a senior government official said that while the Cuban economy is opening up there will be no political reform.
Pope 'could reinforce' church in state-atheist Cuba
March 26, 2012
BBC News
The Pope is to visit Cuba after ending his stay in Mexico by giving an outdoor mass to an estimated 300,000 people.His visit to Communist Cuba is being seen as a chance for the church to revive the flagging faith of the people - and perhaps to increase its influence as an institution.
Pope's trip sparks hopes for change in Cuba
March 23, 2012
Jeff Franks, Reuters
HAVANA, March 23 (Reuters) - For years at Havana's historic Cristobal Colon cemetery, Communist Party members refused to enter the Roman Catholic chapel there for funeral services.
February 2012
Cuban National Symphony plans to visit Tampa, 16 U.S. cities
February 29, 2012
Douglas Stanglin, USA Today
In fall, the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba will begin its first U.S. tour since the Castro revolution, visiting 17 cities, including a chamber music performance at Tampa's famed Cuban Club, the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Oldest woman in Cuba celebrates her 127th birthday
February 3, 2012
BBC News
As she was born in 1885, Juana Bautista de la Candelaria Rodriguez had to spend more than half her life without electricity or running water.In the year of her birth Cuba was still a Spanish colony, the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York harbour and the first automobile was patented.
January 2012
Cuba and its patron saint await Pope Benedict
January 18, 2012
Marc Frank, Reuters
(Reuters) - The Virgin of Charity of El Cobre is a gold-clothed, doll-like figurine which, according to Cuban legend, three fishermen found floating in a bay as Spain colonized the region with the sword and the cross.