Latin American History Commons^™

From “This Revolution Is Neither Communist Nor Capitalist!” To “Long Live The Socialist Revolution:” The Deterioration Of U.S.-Cuban Relations From 1958-1961, Julia Lyne

Honors Projects

This thesis studies the deterioration of U.S.-Cuban relations from 1958-1961. Mainly drawing from primary sources from the National Archives, it seeks to answer and understand how and why relations deteriorated so rapidly. It pushes against the common belief that U.S.-Cuban relations were doomed from the start, instead highlighting in Chapter One Fidel Castro’s rise to power (and Fulgencio Batista’s fall from power) and revealing that the U.S. government was not entirely against Castro’s seizure of power. Chapter Two explores Castro’s first year in power and the (futile) attempts made by both governments to keep relations alive. Finally, it closes with …

The United States And Cuba: A Study Of The Us’S First Military Occupation And State Building Efforts, James Guillard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the US-Cuban relationship during the first military occupation of Cuba from 1898 to 1902, to show the role of high modernist state building in the occupation and the scope of Cuban participation in this endeavor. This is evidenced by heavily examining the annual reports of the US Military Governor General of Cuba and the US appointed civil secretaries of the Cuban government. This research differs from previous studies in the field by introducing James C. Scott’s concepts of legibility and high modernist state building, as well as suggesting that the Cuban civil secretaries participated within a limited …

Cuba’S Use Of Political Imagery In Creating Societal Gender Norms: 1940-1980, Matthew Wingfield

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The gendering of Cuba began during the power imbalance during the colonial era. Gender is an important way in which the relationship of Cuba to Spain, to the United States, and of 1959 Cuban revolution has been expressed. However, the practice of the United States gendering Cuba became commonplace after the end of the Spanish-American War. During this period Cuba was often portrayed in US popular culture as a gendered Orientalized other in ways that reflect what scholar Edward Said defined as Orientalism elsewhere. This will be defined later in the introduction. Gender intersected with racial ideologies in many of …

New England Slave Trader: The Case Of Charles Tyng, Paul J. Michaels

Master's Theses

Charles Tyng has been heralded as an American hero after the posthumous publication of his memoir, Before the Wind: The Memoir of an American Sea Captain, 1808-1833, in 1999. Recent research involving British Treasury report books from the nineteenth century suggest otherwise – that Tyng actively promoted and was engaged in the illicit trade of African captives. A Boston Brahmin, Tyng applied the lessons of his time at sea with Perkins & Company, the opium trading firm, to his occupation as an agent of notorious slave trading firms in Havana. This paper uses as evidence records of the captures …

Percepción Y Periodismo: Bohemia In 1950s Cuba, Jeffrey E. O'Brien

LSU Master's Theses

Bohemia is perhaps one of the most popularly used sources among Cuban historians because of its array of content. For the vast majority of scholars, the use of Bohemia’s content is utilized to put the nature of the Cuban Revolution in perspective. Rarely have historians ever analyzed Bohemia itself, as a publication. What is intriguing is that historians who analyze the Cuban Revolution usually conclude the leit motif of the insurrection evolved around—and was prompted by—the rupture of the constitutional order. Bohemia, as a magazine committed to democracy—free speech, transparency, fair elections, and so on—provides an important way to see …

The Music And Politics Of Willy Chirino, Nancy N. Balcziunas

Honors College Theses

Cuban musician and singer Willy Chirino, the self-proclaimed inventor of the “Miami Sound,” was sent to the United States as a teenager in the 1960s under Operation Pedro Pan to escape the influence of Fidel Castro's communist regime. Throughout his career, he has used his music to spread a personal and political agenda; his rejection of communism and the Castro regime can be seen through his song lyrics, humanitarian efforts, and direct engagement in the world of politics.

Documenting Internationalism: The Instituto Cubano Del Arte E Industria Cinematográficos As A Cultural Extension Of Cuban Foreign Policy, Vella V. Voynova

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the connection between the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos and the Cuban Revolution's internationalism and argues that it made ICAIC documentarians, their methods of production, and their documentary films a valuable asset to Cuban foreign policy in the 1960s and 1970s.

The Exile Of Assata Shakur: Marronage And American Borders, Joe Kaplan

History Theses

Former Black Panther, Assata Shakur, now living in exile in Cuba after breaking out of a U.S. prison, is a self-described escaped slave, or maroon. Shakur has adopted this identity to underscore how practices and ideologies developed under slavery continue to structure Black life in the Americas, and how resistance strategies produced by this historical milieu remain salient in critiques of modern U.S. state power. The transnational nature of Shakur’s flight points to the use of borders as a highly effective, yet overlooked, tactic of Black resistance that has both historical and contemporary relevance. For maroons, borders mark hard distinctions …

To Be Magic: The Art Of Ana Mendieta Through An Ecofeminist Lens, Elizabeth Ann Baker

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Ana Mendieta was a Cuban-born American artist whose unique body of work incorporated performance, activism, Earth art, installation, and the Afro-Cuban practices of Santería. She began her career at the University of Iowa, were she initially received her degree in painting in 1969. It was not until 1972 that Mendieta shifted radically to performance art.

Though she was raised Catholic, she developed an interest in the rituals involved with Santería, a culturally predominant Cuban religion, and it deeply influenced her work in her choice of materials and settings. Santería is one of the major faith-based lifestyles of Cuba …

Vanguardia Mujerista Haciendo Escuela: An Oral History Of Cuban Feminism, Marie Eszenyi

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The high rate of female political participation in Cuba has led many journalists, political scientists, and activists to claim that the country is quite possibly the most feminist in Latin America (Torregrosa, 2012). As the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality (2012) indicates, Cuba ranks third in the world for female participation in legislative bodies. Indeed, Cuba has a long history of female political and revolutionary involvement that positions Cuban feminism both on the forefront and the margins of the economy, governmental institutions, culture, society, military systems, and the workplace during various historical points. Moreover, Cuba’s location just 90 miles …

The Double-Edged Sword: Smallpox Vaccination And The Politics Of Public Health In Cuba, Stephanie Haydee Gonzalez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation tracks the introduction and development of smallpox vaccination in colonial Cuba from the early nineteenth century to the American occupation of 1898. Native (creole) medical practitioners utilized smallpox vaccination as an instrument for securing status as professionals and conceptualizing new identities in a colonial slave society. The smallpox vaccination program allowed licensed practitioners to create a medical monopoly, foster scientific standards and cultivate a medical ethic. Creole vaccinators initially identified with a colonial state that protected their professional interests as necessary for the maintenance of Cuba's slave-based, agro-industrial sugar complex. By the end of the nineteenth century however, …

Poesía E Historicidad En Ernesto Cardenal Y Roberto Fernández Retamar, Alberto David Rivera Vaca

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation analyzes the meta-poetic and historicist thought in Ernesto Cardenal and Roberto Fernández Retamar’s poetry. The concept these poets have poetry is closely related to the historical moment of their times. They ponder about poetry and its function, poetic thought that is nourished by a historical consciousness. This close relationship between poetry and history inevitably includes sensitivity to the social situation in their respective countries and in Latin America. These poets seek to understand the concrete reality thus coming closer to the truth of things. The study shows that these poets, based on history and poetic thought, assume their …

Colonial Trajectory As A Determinant Of Economic Development In Cuba And Puerto Rico: A Comparison, Carleigh Haron

Senior Theses and Projects

As an effect of globalization, the disparity between the richer and poorer nations grows increasingly larger. Colonialism marginalized many poorer, “developing” nations, two of which are Cuba and Puerto Rico. In economic development scholarship on former colonial nations, Cuba and Puerto Rico are rarely focused on as a central point of comparison. I believe that these two islands prove to be particularly interesting to compare due to their distinct colonial trajectories, which are unique within the realm of all former Spanish colonies in the Americas and from each other. I believe the distinctive character of their colonial development translates into …

El Choteo En Cien Botellas En Una Pared Y Raining Backwards: El Gracioso Disfraz De Las Circunstancias Trágicas Durante La Revolución Cubana Y El Período Especial, Kristin Nicole Lisenby

World Languages and Cultures

This project attempts to explore the idea that the combination of tragedy and humor in Cuban and Cuban-American literature is a form of “choteo” or “no tomar nada en serio,” which demonstrates a coping strategy used by Cubans during hard times. In the case of Ena Lucía Portela's Cien botellas en una pared, and Roberto Fernandez's Raining Backwards, I believe that the two authors use his and her own personal insight into a Cuban's life during the Cuban Revolution of the 60's and the Special Period of the 90's, and that those personal experiences are reflected throughout the novels …

Controlling The Big Stick: The United States Navy And The Cuban Intervention Of September 1906, Christopher A. Abel

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

A case study method is used to examine the role played by the United States Navy in bringing about the Second Cuban Intervention of 1906-1909. The 1906 American navy had a distinct lack of centralized direction during the September crisis in Cuba. As a consequence, initiative in the crisis passed to the several naval officers representing the United States in Cuba at the time. These officers acted in consonance with the navy's own institutional agendas and contrary to the objectives of the Theodore Roosevelt administration. In so doing these officers were supported and even rewarded for their actions by the …

Summer Welles' Mediation In Cuba, 1933, Margaret Naegle

Latin American Studies ETDs

This writer first became interested in the 1933 revolution in Cuba during lectures given in May, 1963 at the University of New Mexico. As part of these lectures an interesting theory was presented regarding the Communist "takeover" of Cuba. Briefly, this theory holds that behind every successful Communist revolution (Russia, China, Cuba, for examples) there has been an earlier attempt at social revolution which failed. In the case of Cuba, this would be the revolution of 1933, and especially the reformist provisional government of Dr. Ramón Grau San Martín.

The entire process of the 1933 Cuban revolution calls for an …