Dear list,
I apologize for the last message to which I attached the announcement for the above seminar. I have included the announcement in this email.
Please email: [log in to unmask] if you would like to attend the seminar.
Regards,
Marisa
Marisa Wilson
DPhil Candidate
Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology
University of Oxford
FIFTY YEARS OF REVOLUTION
POLITICS, ECONOMICS AND VALUE(S)
IN CUBA OF TODAY AND TOMORROW
Seminar to be held on
Thursday, the 19th of February, 2009 from 1-5pm
The Nissan Lecture Theatre
St. Antony’s College
University of Oxford
Rarely, if ever, has there been a forum in Britain allowing political scientists, economists and anthropologists of Cuba to debate crucial issues affecting the present and future of the island as conceived by those living within its geo-political borders. In this seminar, experts on Cuba will discuss how political, economic and/or socio-cultural values embedded in the workings of Cuban life affect or will affect present and future transformations in Cuban society. Issues likely to be addressed are: the influence of revolutionary or other values (held by the Cuban government as well as other Cubans) on present and future relations between the United States and Cuba, the way the dual economy is being addressed in the light of past economic policies which limit openings to the market, and how this may affect people on the ground, relations between Cubans on the island and so-called ‘traitors’ who have left, the revolutionary ideology and actual workings of the ‘Battle of Ideas’ program, and possible local outcomes of what some have called the ‘tsunami of capital’ that some predict to hit the island after U.S. sanctions are lifted.
1:00 - 1:15 Registration (free)
1:15 - 1:30 Introductory remarks
1:30 - 3:00 Panel 1 discussion group
3:00 - 3:30 Tea break
3:30 - 5:00 Panel 2 discussion group
5:00 - 6:00 Refreshments
Seminar chaired by:
Dr. Laura Rival, University Lecturer in Anthropology and Development
Laurence Whitehead, Official Fellow in Politics, Nuffield College, Oxford
Speakers:
Dr. Tony Kapcia, Head of the Hispanic and Latin American Studies Department and Chair of the Cuba Research Forum, Nottingham University
Emily Morris, Senior Research Fellow, International Institute for the Study of Cuba (IISC) of London Metropolitan University and former country editor for Cuba for the Economist Unit
Stephen Wilkinson, Assistant Director of the IISC, London Metropolitan University
Marisa Wilson, D.Phil. candidate in Social Anthropology, St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford (seminar coordinator, [log in to unmask])
Dr. George Lambie, Professor of Public Policy, DeMontfort University and Director of the Cuba Financial Reform Group (responsible for the delivery of a major EU project in Cuba).
Dr. Mette Berg, Departmental Lecturer, Anthropology of Migration
Paper titles and abstracts
Panel 1: 1:30-3pm
Stephen Wilkinson
Obama and Cuba: Reflections and reactions
The election of Barack Obama has caused a huge amount of interest in the western media with a widespread assumption that the new president will change US policy towards the island. But how far will the new president go and what, if anything, will be the reaction in Cuba? This paper analyses the coverage of the election of Obama in the Cuban press and how the Cuban government views the event. It ends with an assessment of the likelihood of a change in the relationship between the two countries and how this might be achieved.
Marisa Wilson
Will Cuba become a ‘Modern’ Consumer Society after U.S. Sanctions are Lifted?
While many theorists of economic ‘transition’ in Cuba predict that a ‘tsunami of capital’ will inevitably transform the island into a ‘modern’ consumer society, this assumption may be questioned on several grounds. In this paper, I will show how revolutionary values in rural Cuba, which are manifest in everyday economic transactions, complicate the picture of Cuba as a society of would-be capitalist consumers. Using ethnographic data collected during fieldwork (2005-7), I will argue that, though Cubans in rural Cuba do value commodities, their modes of consumption are inseparable from transcendental values embedded in revolutionary society, such as the historical ‘fight’ (lucha) for political and economic autonomy.
Emily Morris
2009: Another crossroads for the Cuban economy?
In 2007 Raúl Castro launched a national debate on the problems and possibilities for the Cuban economy that raised expectations for ‘structural’ reforms. Since then, there have been only modest changes to the economic system, while economic growth has slowed and severe imbalances have persisted. In his January 1st speech, Mr. Castro gave a hint that the next Communist Party Congress, which is due to take place at the end of 2009, might bring some more radical initiatives. This paper outlines the options available and, on the basis of the analysis of what drives economic policy, considers what changes are likely to take place.
Panel 2: 3:30-5pm
Dr. Tony Kapcia
The Battle of Ideas: last ditch or more of the same?
The Batalla de Ideas (Battle of Ideas) - begun in 2000 and possibly now being drawn to a close - has usually been seen, inside and outside of Cuba, as Fidel's brainchild, and has frequently been dismissed by outsiders as the last desperate fling of a moribund system (and even a moribund leader). However, it is inevitably much more than that and, while its effects are yet to be judged, it should be seen not in terms of the supposed twilight of Fidel but, rather, as the latest in a long line of mobilisation campaigns which have been characteristic of 'the Revolution' since 1959 and, as such, part and parcel of the whole process of involvement, inclusion, radicalisation and ideological reinvigoration.
Dr. Mette Berg
Between Cosmopolitanism and the National Slot:
Cuba's Diasporic Children of the Revolution.
While cosmopolitanism used to be associated with Western, elite practices, it is now used to describe a wider array of practices. This paper explores the cosmopolitanism of Cuba's 'children of the revolution' living in Spain. They were born in Cuba after the revolution and were brought up to become the socialist 'New Man'. However, some of these New Men and Women now embrace ideals of cosmopolitanism rather than patriotic socialism. The paper seeks to answer the question of whether and how cosmopolitan discourses create new identities for ex-patriot Cubans living in Spain, and argues that, paradoxically, cosmopolitanism is a product of generation-specific experiences within the Cuban socialist-national project.
Dr. George Lambie
The Battle for Ideas. Is there a Cuban Revolutionary Ontology and what
does it seek to challenge?
Since the 1980s with the rise of neo-liberalism, and especially after the collapse of communism in the early 1990s, the 'End of History' mindset has been the dominant global ideology. In business practice, this mode of thought is based on the 'Efficient Market Hypothesis,' and in politics on a belief in the symbiotic relationship between markets and democracy. The hegemony of this discourse pervades culture, media, social relations and even individual self-perception. Set against such a dominant ontology the Cuba Revolution is an anachronism, a failed experiment destined to be swept aside by the course of history. Today, however, 'Market Fundamentalism' is faltering materially, and, as objective forces begin to affect people's lives, its subjective certainties are being questioned. In this context Cuba's tenacious stand against the prevailing order, and it's claims to be pursuing socialism, begin to appear more legitimate. But does Cuba's alternative system offer indications which go beyond its own struggle and suggest,
especially considering its growing engagement with changing political and social processes in Latin America, the embryo of a counter-hegemony? This presentation will examine such a possibility with reference to elements of the Cuban revolutionary tradition and the contemporary constraints and opportunities that affect Cuba's idealism.
