Cuba Project

The dynam­ics of con­tem­po­rary Cuba – the cul­ture, the peo­ple, and the pol­i­tics – was the focus of a three-day sym­po­sium at the Grad­u­ate Cen­ter. The con­fer­ence fea­tured over 700 par­tic­i­pants from around the world. Thirty-five pan­els pre­sented per­spec­tives from the social sci­ences and eco­nom­ics, the arts and the human­i­ties, and the world of pol­i­cy­mak­ers to pro­vide a diverse look into var­i­ous aspects of change in Cuba. The open­ing ple­nary “Cur­rent Dynam­ics, Chang­ing Per­spec­tives,” fea­tured Pro­fes­sor Jorge Domínguez, For­mer U.S. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive to Cuba Vicki Hud­dle­ston, and Cana­dian Econ­o­mist Archibald Rit­ter. A sec­ond ple­nary on Cuba and the media brought together dis­tin­guished jour­nal­ists from The New York Times, CNN, The Econ­o­mist, and the Miami Her­ald. The third and final ple­nary included pol­i­cy­mak­ers from Mex­ico, the U.S. Depart­ment of State, and the Euro­pean Com­mis­sion. The con­fer­ence also included film screen­ings, book pre­sen­ta­tions, and a con­cert by the Cu-NY Latin Jazz Ensemble.

 

 

This inter­na­tional sym­po­sium focused on the Cuban real­ity from the early 1990s through 2006, pre­sent­ing research on the nature of changes under­way in eco­nom­ics, pol­i­tics and pol­icy mod­els, civil soci­ety, art and lit­er­a­ture, race rela­tions, and national iden­tity and cul­ture, as well as Cuba’s role in world affairs. In four­teen pan­els and var­i­ous other spe­cial events, the expert par­tic­i­pants in this sym­po­sium exam­ined var­i­ous ques­tions regard­ing the pos­si­bil­ity and the real­i­ties of tran­si­tion, eco­nomic and oth­er­wise, in Cuba.

 

 

Cuba Today explored con­tem­po­rary Cuban real­ity since the early 1990s. The cri­sis of state social­ism after 1989 chal­lenged pre-existing poli­cies, prac­tices, and assump­tions, pro­vid­ing incen­tives for reform. Many areas of social life have expe­ri­enced con­sid­er­able change, while lega­cies of the rev­o­lu­tion endure. The sym­po­sium probed pat­terns of con­ti­nu­ity and change in eco­nom­ics, pol­i­tics and pol­icy, civil soci­ety, art and lit­er­a­ture, race rela­tions and national iden­tity, and Cuba’s role in world affairs.

 

 

At its birth, sev­eral lead­ers of the new Cuban Repub­lic and insti­tu­tions vied for artic­u­lat­ing Cuban iden­tity, the state, and civil soci­ety. One legacy in par­tic­u­lar, the nation­al­ist and polit­i­cal ideas of José Martí, took a cen­tral stage among the fol­low­ers of the Cuban sep­a­ratist mar­tyr and “apostle.”

 

 

 

This sym­po­sium focused on the life and work of Fer­nando Ortiz to explore the com­plex and fer­tile rela­tion­ship between his work and Cuban his­tory, cul­ture, and the arts. This con­fer­ence probed Ortiz’s vast oeu­vre and pro­vided a timely and provoca­tive reassess­ment of his legacy.

 

 

 

The col­lapse the for­mer Soviet Union left Cuba’s state social­ism fac­ing the chal­lenge of rein­te­gra­tion into a largely cap­i­tal­ist world soci­ety. This con­fer­ence exam­ined the chal­lenges con­fronting Cuba as it seeks to develop insti­tu­tions and poli­cies needed for inter­na­tional “re-insertion.”