This panel explores how Cuban visual arts constitutes an important platform to understand a wide range of historical and current socio-political issues. The presenters reflect on topics such as the relationship between figurative art, race, and nation, the transcultural dynamics of Cuba’s concrete art, the contributions of monographs to existing historiography, and the role of the Cuban Art Foundation in the development of national arts and society.
“Concrete Cuba” Abigail McEwen, associate professor of Latin American art history at the University of...
Speaker: Alejandra Bronfman, Associate Professor in the Department of Latin American, Caribbean and US Latino Studies, at the University at Albany-SUNY
Moderator: Alejandro de la Fuente, Robert Woods Bliss Professor of Latin American History and Economics Professor of African and African American Studies and of History Director, Afro-Latin American Research Institute, Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University
Cuba was a center of the Caribbean “radio wars” of the...
AC Hotel Barcelona Forum, Sala Barcelona, Passeig del Taulat, 278, Barcelona, Spain
Introductory remarks by Alejandro de la Fuente, Chair of the Cuba Studies Program, Robert Woods Bliss Professor of Latin American History and Economics and Director of the Afro-Latin American Research Institute at Harvard University.
Cuba’s economy has grown hardly at all during Raúl Castro’s presidency (2006-2016), hit by the economic collapse of its Venezuelan partner and burdened by a legacy of decayed infrastructure, a bankrupt sugar industry, and stagnant agriculture. This book diagnoses the ills that afflict Cuba’s economy and examines possible economic policy...
The Communist Party in Cuba purveyed images of Fidel Castro that borrowed from Christian iconography in order to “sell” Fidel. Cuban artist José Angel Toirac and Bay Area writer Robert Glück present their recent collaboration, the artist book Parables. Parables gathers photos from magazines and newspapers like Granma, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party. It repurposes the Cuban Revolution as a Gospel, a new religion with a new scripture. Fidel performs the life of Christ, from his childhood in Nazareth to his ascension into Heaven. Toirac and Glück will...
Speakers: Marial Iglesias Utset, Afro-Latin American Research Institute at Harvard University and Manuel Barcia, University of Leeds
Moderator: Alejandro de la Fuente, Robert Woods Bliss Professor of Latin American History and Economics, Professor of African and African American Studies and of History, Harvard University
Challenging the notion of a "great divide" between Republic and Revolution this talk traces contentious interactions between shantytown leaders in Havana and government officials who sought to relocate them. As disputes...
Speaker: Cary Aileen García Yero, PhD Candidate, Department of History, Harvard University
Between 1940 and 1958, the Cuban state worked to support and develop Cuba’s artistic culture. This presentation explores how cultural administrators actively participated in...
The Cuba Studies Program Seminar Series presents Ambassador Jeffrey Delaurentis, Former Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy in Cuba; Fellow, Belfer Center, Harvard Kennedy School
**Please note this event will be conducted in Spanish**
Speaker:Dayrelis Ojeda Suris, Centro de Estudios de la Economía Cubana, Universidad de La Habana, Asociación Nacional de Economistas y Contadores de Cuba
With grant support from the French-American Jazz Exchange Program, Cuban-American saxophonist/percussionist/composer Yosvany Terry and French pianist Baptiste Trotignon present a unique and exciting program inspired by the rich and diverse musical traditions that emerged from...
Speaker: Cary Aileen García Yero, PhD Candidate, Department of History, Harvard University
