Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Geotransformación And Overcoming Underdevelopment In Socialist Cuba, Danny Meza Keane

Comparative Literature M.A. Essays

The term geotransformación, coined and theorized by Cuban geographer and revolutionary Antonio Núñez Jiménez in his 1968 book Geotransformación de Cuba, is an analytic frame which emphasizes the interconnectedness of social and natural transformation. As such, geotransformación functions as a conceptual weapon against not only theories of geographic determinism attempting to depoliticize history, but also grand historical narratives which center the human by overstating its independence from the forces of nature. Taking geotransformación as a conceptual compass for a return to the Cuban Revolution’s decisive early years, I engage in close readings of primary texts including geographic treatises, legal documents, …

Estrategia Para Fortalecer La Retencion De Jovenes En La Iglesia Adventista Central De Las Tunas, Cuba, Magdiel Larramendy Laurencio

Professional Dissertations DMin

Problem

The Seventh-day Adventist church in the city of Las Tunas, Cuba, from 2000 to 2015 has suffered for the loss of the youth ages 18 to 35 years old. A pastoral study of the congregation revealed that 70% of the youth that were born between the years 1990 and 2000 abandoned the church, indicating that it´s services were irrelevant and the absence of younger people and lacked youth in the leadership of the church. The congregation of Las Tunas has been a church centered in the accomplishment of the mission, and focused on the expansion of the gospel in …

Disobeying, Mari Claudia Garcia

Masters Theses

Disobeying constitutes a deeper conceptual and formal inquiry into themes that have been permanently present in my art practice since I started thinking about them in 2008. My concerns are anchored in a socio-political study of communication and language as impacted by power relations, politics, micro-politics, and censorship. In this thesis, I particularly focus on the way in which I see censorship in relation to protest through my recent work, on account of the relevance these issues have for me after living most of my life in Cuba under a totalitarian regime.

Through this writing exercise, I also intend to …

Cuban Embargo: An Insufficient Measure To Encourage Us Foreign Policy Interests, Esme Jm Prowse

Major Papers

This major paper examines the Cuban embargo as an ineffective hard power policy and explores the potential of soft, hard, and smart power as alternative approaches to resolve the failures of the 60-year-old blockade. The paper analyzes the historical context and rationale behind the embargo and assesses its impact on Cuban-American relations, regional stability, and U.S. national interests. The study argues that the embargo has failed to achieve its intended goals and has instead perpetuated a cycle of hostility, isolation, and human rights abuses. By drawing on the theoretical frameworks of soft, hard, and smart power, the paper presents policy …

The Origins And Development Of The Cuban Danzas For The Piano In The Works Of Manuel Saumell, Ignacio Cervantes, Ernesto Lecuona And Gisela Hernandez, Yanet Bermudez Ortiz

Dissertations, 2020-current

This document aims to trace the evolution of the Cuban danza for the piano as seen in the works by Manuel Saumell, Ignacio Cervantes, Ernesto Lecuona, and Gisela Hernandez. The first chapter describes the history and origins of the Cuban danza, ending with Ignacio Cervantes’ compositions. In the following chapters, these composers’ lives and works are contrasted and analyzed in chronological order. Chapter two is dedicated to Manuel Saumell’s compositions, which are framed as the best representative examples of the roots of the Cuban danzas for the piano. Chapter three is centered on Ignacio Cervantes’ compositions and is analyzed …

Más Grande Que Una Isla, Georgi Elizabeth Valero

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Más Grande Que Una Isla is a film about the political leanings of Cuban-Americans in Miami-Dade County, highlighting the dissonance in supporting policies that negatively affect the immigration process for others when they were incredibly privileged in the programs and opportunities available to them. It explores these political beliefs by tracing back to their origination, drawing out the privilege in the Cuban immigration experience that has existed for over half a century, leading us back to the present. While the film extends to a broader discussion, exploring the views of the Cuban community in Miami, it is personal at its …

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 …

Ephemeral Elsewheres: Locating Narratives Of Resignation, Resistance, And Refusal In The Poetry Of Black Cuban And Black Brazilian Women, Aidan Keys

Comparative Literature M.A. Essays

This essay dissects the language of Latin American revolution and nationalism to locate the body of the black woman and the appropriation of her image. In two seemingly incommensurable radical movements—the Cuban Revolution (1952-1959) and the Brazilian Unified Black Movement (1978-)—the contributions of Black women are unevenly recognized. Reading the poetry of cubanas Nancy Morejón and Georgina Herrera and brasileiras Sônia Fátima and Esmeralda Ribeiro, this essay claims that in both contexts, the Black woman is marginalized to a geographic “elsewhere.” Expanding on this term, coined by scholar Carol Boyce Davies, this essay further identifies temporal and ephemeral “elsewheres.” The …

Imperialism In The Caribbean: Us Policies Towards Cuba And Haiti From The 1950s To The 1970s, Glory Jones, Constance Chen, Sean Dempsey

Honors Thesis

Haiti and Cuba are two Caribbean islands which prove to be prominent particularly in revolutionary culture and discourse, despite the clear differences in present-day material conditions of the islands themselves. Alongside each of the islands’ need for regional partnerships and aid, their significance in revolutionary culture connected the two islands in a distinct way. This connection is one that was forged mostly in the time period from the 1950s to the1970s, when the Cuban Revolution began and gave way to many connections to the historic Haitian Revolution. Another major factor creating such solidarity during this time period, as well as …

On Your Painted Wings, Sandra M. Ford

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this thesis is to explore historical issues of Cuban restrictions on emigration through a magical realism lens. Drawing inspiration from Cuban-American writer Ana Menéndez and Columbian writer Gabriel García Márquez, this thesis focuses on family relationships, especially how grief shapes those relationships and the people in them. The thesis approaches these issues of family, grief, and Cuban emigration by weaving a more grounded central narrative with an original fairytale.

“The Very Class For Our Country”: How The Cuban Exploitation Of Chinese Coolie Laborers Inspired Louisiana Sugar Planters, Joseph Ledesma

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Sugar planters in Louisiana during Reconstruction needed to replace the enslaved labor force that had fled the plantation system after the Civil War. These Louisiana planters took inspiration from the system of coolie labor in Cuba, wherein exploited Chinese indentured servants would work on sugar plantation alongside enslaved Africans. The white Cuban planters’ goal was to racially dilute their plantation labor force, thus making the existing power structures easier to maintain while avoiding Haitian-style slave uprising. Sugar planters in Louisiana intended to recreate the Cuban system to compel Freedmen to work for less than their worth by importing Chinese laborers, …

“The Very Class For Our Country”: How The Cuban Exploitation Of Chinese Coolie Laborers Inspired Louisiana Sugar Planters, Joseph Ledesma

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Sugar planters in Louisiana during Reconstruction needed to replace the enslaved labor force that had fled the plantation system after the Civil War. These Louisiana planters took inspiration from the system of coolie labor in Cuba, wherein exploited Chinese indentured servants would work on sugar plantation alongside enslaved Africans. The white Cuban planters’ goal was to ethnically diversify their plantation labor force, thus making the existing power structures easier to maintain while avoiding slave uprising by manufacturing racial divisions among the labor force. Sugar planters in Louisiana intended to recreate the Cuban system to compel Freedmen to work for less …

The Portrayal Of Race And Gender In Revolutionary Cuban Cinema, Sarah Bartley

Honors Theses

Cinema has been one of the most useful tools to portray the political and social beliefs prevalent during a given point in history. Following the Cuban Revolution, once-marginalized communities were given far more opportunity to participate in education, in the workforce, and in society. Institutionalized racism and sexism were combatted as Fidel Castro’s major areas of focus after the Cuban Revolution’s 1959 victory. Class issues were improved as the wealth inequality that had defined pre-Revolutionary Cuba was minimized following the nationalizing of private property. Despite these improvements, however, there remained sentiments of dissatisfaction regarding social issues in Revolutionary Cuba, including …

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 …

Women In Socialist Cuba: Political And Economic Equality, Julia E. Rogers

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

Gender equality is recognized as a fundamental human right and goal by the United Nations. The 1959 Cuban Revolution advocated for widespread social changes including equality for women. Cuba is a critical case because it both confirms and refutes assumptions about gender equality. The central research question explored in this thesis is: How do domestic and global factors combine to affect the rhetoric and experiences of gendered and racial groups with respect to economic and political opportunities in socialist Cuba? I examine whether the divergences between expectations and experiences conform to the general literature. I find that women did achieve …

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 …

The Cultural Dual Identity In Cristina Garcia's Dreaming In Cuban And Julia Alvarez's How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Azahria John-Otway

Dissertations and Theses

Cristina Garcia's Dreaming in Cuban and Julia Alvarez's How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents are two novels that explore the effects immigration can have on the development of one's identity, respectively. Throughout both novels, it is understood that in order for an immigrant to have a sense of belonging, an exploratory journey of the self must be made. In making this journey, literally and figuratively, the immigrant person begins to appreciate their homeland and immigrated home, thus feeling a sense of belonging and accepting they are of a cultural dual identity.

Perdido En La Transculturación: Compromisos De Identidad En La América Latina Judía, Jacob Bernard Baskes

Honors Projects

Esta investigación explora los procesos de negociación y compromiso presentes en la experiencia judía de América Latina. Durante siglos, esta identidad ha existido junta con otras, sean nacionales, religiosas, o raciales, lo cual resulta en una nueva identidad compleja y singular. A través de novelas de Eduardo Halfon (Guatemala), Achy Obejas y Leonardo Padura (Cuba) e Isaac Goldemberg (Perú) en adición a una investigación antropológica en Lima, el texto explora una colección de temas que incluye el movimiento, la memoria, el exilio, la diáspora, el trauma, y el mestizaje. Cada tema aquí analizado tiene un rol profundo en la formación …

Remembrance Of A Wound: Ethical Mourning In The Works Of Ana Menéndez, Elías Miguel Muñoz, And Junot Díaz, José Aparicio

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Remembrance of a Wound: Ethical Mourning in the Works of Ana Menéndez, Elías Miguel Muñoz, and Junot Díaz explores Latinx experiences of ethical mourning, an act akin to a scar remaining after a wound heals. This literary ethical mourning respects the memories of people and places no longer present. I define ethical mourning in Derridean terms and connect it to testimonio to illustrate how certain Cuban American and Dominican American characters, having lost their homeland through exile, immigration, and political turmoil, become practiced at mourning. For Derrida, ethical mourning employs poetic language to bear witness to a loss in such …

Creando Cultura A Través De La Comida: Un Cuento De La Perseverancia Y El Ingenio Cubano, Gabriel Hatcher

World Languages and Cultures

This project analyzes the cultural impacts of Cuban culinary history starting with the 16th-century Spanish colonization. Cuba is an incredible case example for culinary adaptations due to its tumultuous history of population demographic shifts, political uprisings, and economic downturns. I will begin by analyzing the culinary shifts brought about the importation of African and Asian workers associated with the sugar cane industry. I then discuss the impact of the fall of the Batista government and the rise of the Cuban Revolutionary government. The Revolutionary government brought about standardization of available ingredients and helped popularize specific Cuban dishes until the fall …

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 …

Health Care In The Caribbean: A Comparative Analysis Between Cuba And Puerto Rico, Matheus Moreira Sanches Peraci

Honors Projects

The paper at hand focuses on comparing the differences of the Cuban and Puerto Rican health care (HC) system and conditions. As this is a comparative research analysis, this was done by reviewing many different reliable sources and compiling the relevant information from Cuba and Puerto Rico. The factors that were taken into account are: (a) Political and Health Care Systems, (b) Natural and Artificial Disaster and (c) Country’s Demographics and Health Statistics.

A Compendium Of Opera In Spain And Latin America, Michelle S. Smith

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Spain and Latin America have a rich operatic tradition, however this opulent body of operatic work is mostly overlooked or ignored in mainstream histories of opera. This document focuses on opera in Spain and the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America. Opera was both composed and performed in Spain and Latin America, and both regions demonstrate the development of national opera traditions. Spanish drama was closely linked to the beginnings of national opera, and Italian influence is evident in opera compositions from both regions. The output of national operas varies by country, with Spain, Mexico, and Argentina claiming the majority of …

Divided Agencies: Internal Strife In The Fight Against Castro, Stephanie R. Schmidt

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how the Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. State Department differed in their approaches to dealing with the Castro regime from 1959 through the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Using declassified documents from the CIA and State Department, I argue that the approaches of the CIA in dealing with the Castro regime were more aggressive than the approaches of the U.S. State Department. Many of the primary sources used in this work were accessed in the CIA electronic reading room and on the office of the historian website. The office of the historian is an …

From Borderlands To Border Islands: Intersections Between Anzaldúa's Chicana Feminist Theory And U.S. Latina Literature From The Hispanic Caribbean, Cristina Gonzalez Martin

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis studies three texts by three U.S. Latina authors from the Hispanic Caribbean through the lens of Chicana feminist border theory. The works analyzed are How the García Girls Lost Their Accents (1991) by Dominican author Julia Alvarez, Dreaming in Cuban (1992) by Cuban-American novelist Cristina García, and the memoir Almost a Woman (1998) by Puerto Rican author Esmeralda Santiago. The theoretical framework used is Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. The objective is to show how these texts manifest the formation of a hybrid, diasporic, in-between identity that corresponds with Anzaldúa’s definition of mestiza consciousness or la …

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 …

Cuban Art In The 1980s, Rebecca Q. Sell

Senior Projects Spring 2018

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.

La Poesía De Nicolás Guillén Y Luis Palés Matos: En Defensa De La Herencia Negra, Rocio Vélez Pesante

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Este trabajo de investigación explora una selección de poemas de los autores Nicolás Guillén (Cuba 1992-1989) y Luis Palés Matos (Puerto Rico 1989-1959) para demostrar como ambos contribuyeron a la discusión sobre la herencia negra en la identidad de sus respectivos países, si bien, sus obras tuvieron una diferente recepción. También nos proponemos probar que, aunque ambos han sido estudiados más como autores de la corriente negrista dentro de la poesía caribeña hispana, algunos de sus poemas pueden ser leídos desde las perspectivas del pensamiento de la Negritude. Por último, mediante un análisis tropológico determinaremos qué figuras retóricas predominan …

Custodian Of The Specie: White Women, Capital, And Slavery In The Hemispheric South, Jenny Leroy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My dissertation argues that white women played crucial roles in the economic, political, and cultural circuits that linked the United States and Cuba, and the hemisphere broadly, during the nineteenth century. It inserts white women into a historical account of U.S. imperialism by analyzing the literary works of a number of American women who traveled to or simply fantasized about Cuba during this period of intense and widespread interest in the island. It identifies white women not just as providing the symbolic rationale for Cuban annexation or intervention – the preservation of their chastity being a common justification for the …

Arte De Resistencia De Escritoras Latinas En Los Estados Unidos: Magali Alabau Y Carmen Boullosa, Agustin De Jesus

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In my dissertation, I focus on the literary production of Latina authors, who live and write in the United States. By using the notion of the art of resistance, I explore the works of Magali Alabau, Hemos llegado a Ilión, Volver and Amor faltal, and Carmen Baullosa, Texas. Both writers clash about the discourses linked to segregation. Pondering on their works, I propose to extend the current idea of the art of resistance, associated with political views, to one that opposes all kinds of segregation. In Part I, taking into consideration the debates regarding truth and fiction, …