Rethinking the Cuban Revolution Nationally and Regionally: Politics, Culture and Identity

2009 saw the 50 th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. The celebration not only offered an opportunity to mark the survival of Revolution, but also presented a time for reflection, reassessment and reform, in recognition that the Revolution was at a crucial stage in its trajectory. It is widely accepted amongst Cubanists that it is not possible to attribute the unexpected endurance of the Revolution solely to political or economic factors. Indeed, one of the more unique aspects of the Revolution, at least for its first 30 years until the economic crisis of the 1990s, was the way in which socio–cultural practice and political participation enabled personal visions of the Revolution to interact with national versions of cubanidad – the essence of being Cuban – and cubanía revolucionaria . As a result, the contributions within this work rethink the relationships forged between the national and the regional, and the past and the present in contemporary Cuban political, social and cultural life, and offer new perspectives based on inter–disciplinary methods. In so doing, they reassess both the national survival of the Revolution beyond the Special Period, and propose new approaches to cultural and political identity in Cuba.

Introduction: Towards an Integrated Understanding of the Cuban Revolution (PAR KUMARASWAMI) 1. Ideas of Race, Ethnicity and National Identity in the Discourse of the Press During The Cuban Revolution (ELVIRA ANTÓN CARRILLO) 2. Cuba′s Internationalism Revisited: Exporting Literacy, ALBA, and a New Paradigm for South–South Collaboration (KEPA ARTARAZ) 3. Floating in the Void: Ethical Weightlessness in Post–Soviet Cuba Narrative (ODETTE CASAMAYOR–CISNEROS) 4. Celebrating 50 Years – But of What Exactly and Why is Latin America Celebrating It? (ANTONI KAPCIA) 5. Cuban Medical Internationalism Under Raúl Castro (JOHN M. KIRK) 6. Peripheral Visions? Literary Canon Formation in Revolutionary Cuba (PAR KUMARASWAMI) 7. Regime Change and Human Rights: A Perspective on the Cuba Polemic (STEVE LUDLAM) 8. Creating the Quiet Majority? Youth and Young People in the Political Culture of the Cuban Revolution (ANNE LUKE) 9. Afterword: Cuba and Latin America (ANTONI KAPCIA) References Index

Par Kumaraswami is a Lecturer in Latin American Cultural Studies and Co–Director of the Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, University of Manchester. She has published extensively on Cuban cultural policy and practice, including a forthcoming co–authored monograph on literary culture and the Cuban Revolution. She is co–editor of Making Waves: Anniversary Volume: Women in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies (with Ann Davies and Claire Williams, 2008) and Revolucionarias: Conflict and Gender in Latin American Narratives by Women (with Niamh Thornton, 2007).

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