Researching Cultures: The Paradoxes of Contemporary Cuba: The Good, the Bad, and the In-Between

In the wake of such momentous events as president Obama's visit to Cuba (March 2016), Fidel Castro's death (November 2017) and the end of Raul Castro's presidency (April 2018), for many Americans the island has advanced from the category of a forbidden and exotic fruit to a full-fledged reality. Now is a good time to ask not only "What is next for Cuba?" but also "What can we learn from Castro's revolutionary experiments"? This course explores from interdisciplinary perspectives the paradoxes of Cuban lives on the island and in the diaspora-the good, the bad and the in-between-along with the intertwined histories of the United States and Cuba. Using a combination of literary texts (Carpentier, Cabrera Infante, Ponte, Bobes, Obejas, Morejón, Padura), films ("Strawberry and Chocolate," "Guantanamera," "The Promise," "The New Art of Making Ruins"), artwork (Mendieta, Bruguera, Garaicoa), political speeches, and unique visual materials compiled by the instructor throughout her many research trips to Cuba, we will look at the island's contemporary reality through the lens of its colonial and postcolonial past. Topics include ethnic and gender identities, the history of slavery and plantation economy, the "myths" of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, African-Cuban spirituality, popular music, political oppression and dissent, and the interplay of migration and exile, along with multiple perspectives on everyday life (foreign tourism, food rationing, dual-currency economy, restoration of colonial Havana, education, and healthcare). Due to the interdisciplinary perspectives inherent to this course, students will have an opportunity to engage their knowledge of and interest in disciplines outside the humanities (including but not limited to: public health, law, political science, urban studies, anthropology) in the exploration of Cuba's past, present, and future. This course will have a strong, mandatory and graded written communications component and is taught in Spanish. It als
Course Attributes: BU Hum; BU IS; AS HUM; AS LCD; AS WI I; AS SC; EN H

Researching Cultures: The Paradoxes of Contemporary Cuba: The Good, the Bad, and the In-Between

SPANISH 3613

Section 01