Events Archive
December 2, 2009
Cuban Scholars Lectured
Rafael Hernandez, Cuban historian and director of Revista Temas in Havana, and Daybel Panellas, social psychologist at the University of Havana, lectured at UC San Diego December 2, 2009. Hernandez spoke on macro-economic and social issues, Panellas on the subjectivities of everyday life in Cuba. They also lectured in the following days at Pomona College and Whittier College.
December 1, 2009
New York, NY
The Modern Language Association of America today announced it is awarding its seventh annual MLA Prize in United States Latina and Latino Literary and Cultural Studies to Laura Lomas, of Rutgers University, for her book Translating Empire: José Martí, Migrant Latino Subjects, and American Modernities, published by Duke University Press. The (review) committee's citation for the book reads:
Translating Empire: José Martí, Migrant Latino Subjects, and American Modernities does an excellent job of reinterpreting the legacy of José Martí while documenting an impressive body of archival work. Covering the North American literary and cultural texts of the United States in the Gilded Age, Laura Lomas reads Martí and his contemporaries to tell the story of Latino migrants as the translators of cultures situated between modernities. Lomas gives close attention to Martí's lesser-known texts, reinvigorates his contributions to the United States, and provides an abundance of provocative and thoughtful readings. Lomas's reinterpretation of Martí recasts the transamerican imaginary as a model for a contemporary readership drawing north-south intersections between Latin American studies and United States Latino studies.
Laura Lomas is an associate professor in the English Department and the Graduate Program in American Studies at Rutgers University, Newark. She received her PhD from Columbia University. Her essays have appeared in publications such as Journal of American Studies, Comparative American Studies, American Literature, and the forthcoming Literature of Hispanic Carribbean Migration. She is acting director of the Women and Gender Studies Program at Rutgers and cofounder of the Immigrant Rights Collective. Lomas received a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship to research and write Translating Empire: José Martí, Migrant Latino Subjects, and American Modernities.
December 2009
UC CUBA at the American Anthropological Association (AAA)
There was an interesting session at the American Anthropological Association Meetings in Philadelphia last week. Several members and/or friends and colleagues of UC-CUBA participated: Denise Blum, Paul Ryer, Maki Tanaka. The papers may be of interest to all those studying "ruins," "urban spaces," and the like in Cuba.
Session Sponsor:
Society for Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology Organizer(s):
HEATHER SETTLE (Duke University),
PAUL RYER (U of California, Riverside)
THOMAS CARTER (Univesrity of Brighton)
Participants:
8:00 AM:
MATTHEW HILL (University of Pennsylvania) -- The Return to the 'Historic Center': Heritage Practice and the Reterritorialization of Urban Space in Late Socialist Cuba
8:15 AM:
AMELIA ROSENBERG WEINREB (University of Pennsylvania) -- Consuming Cuba: Urban
Life and Commodity Desire under Raúl Consuming Cuba: Urban Life and Commodity Desire under Raúl
8:30 AM:
HEATHER SETTLE (Duke University) -- Havana in Ruins: Youth, Hope and History in a Barrio Marginal
8:45 AM:
MAKI TANAKA -- Comparative Aesthetics of Cityscapes: Havana and Trinidad
9:00 AM:
JOSEPH SCARPACI (Virginia Military Institute) -- Heritage, Place and Memory in Cuban
Landscapes: A Cultural Geographic Perspective
9:15 AM:
DISCUSSANT: NADINE FERNANDEZ (SUNY Empire State College)
9:30 AM:
DISCUSSION
9:45 AM:
BREAK
10:00 AM:
LAURIE FREDERIK (University of Maryland) -- Rural Artists on Tour: Performative Transformation and Other Disconcerting Spectacles
10:15 AM:
DENISE BLUM (Oklahoma State University) -- Cuban National Identity and Ideological
Portrayals: The Elián González Museums in Cuba and Miami 10:30 AM: PAUL RYER (U of California, Riverside)-- Nostalgia, Memory, and Identity on EsbecRadio.com: Cuban-educated Ghanaians of ESBEC 22
10:45 AM
THOMAS CARTER (Univesrity of Brighton) -- REFLECTIONS ON CUBAN TRANSNATIONAL LABOR MIGRATION AND THE NEGOTIATIONS WITH AND OF THE REVOLUTIONARY STATE 11:00 AM: L. KAIFA ROLAND (CU Boulder) -- Three Centuries of La Lucha Cubana
11:15 AM:
DISCUSSANT: STEPHAN PALMIE' (Chicago)
11:30 AM:
DISCUSSION
November, 26-29, 2009
KEYNOTE LECTURE BY PROFESSOR CABEZAS (Prof. Cabezas' Bio)
Our colleague Professor Amalia Cabezas, Women's Studies UC Riverside has been invited to give a Keynote Lecture at the international symposium "Sex and Sexuality in Latin America and the Caribbean" in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Nov 26-29.
The event is organized by the Netherlands Association of Latin American and Caribbean Studies and the Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation.
This international conference seeks to explore contemporary issues in the study of sex and sexuality in Latin America and the Caribbean. The focus will be on shifts in the political economy of intimacy and the ways in which cultural, political and economic power structures shape sexual practices and ideologies in the region.
April 17-18, 2009
How Do UC-Cuba? Workshop Program
A conference program with information on workshops and events.
April 17-18, 2009
How Do UC-Cuba? Graduate Student Workshop
Sponsored by the UC-Cuba Multi-Campus Research Program, theUC-Cuba GraduateStudentWorkshop is an interdisciplinary, collaborative effort of graduate students and faculty, whose research involves the study of any aspect of Cuba. The goal of the workshop is to nurture new research, facilitate collaborative work, and create lasting relationships.
An important characteristic, and perhaps the driving force behind this project, is the desire to improve the quality of the graduate student experience. This workshop initiates a learning community that we hope will grow beyond the first moment of departure.
For further details, please contact UC-Cuba Graduate Workshop coordinators, Virginia Benitez (UC Santa Cruz) at Virginia.Benitez@gmail.com and Susannah R. Drissi (UCLA) atrsdrissi@aol.com.
February 17-18-19, 2009
Professor Ada Ferrer at UCSD, UC Irvine and UCLA
UC-CUBA co-sponsored a lecture by Professor Ada Ferrer which she gave in consecutive days at UC SD, UC Irvine and UCLA.
Dr. Ada Ferrer, Associate Professor of Latin American History at New York University, is the author of Insurgent Cuba: Race, Nation, and Revolution, 1868-98 (University of North Carolina Press, 1999), winner of the 2000 Berkshire Book Prize. Insurgent Cuba focuses on the unfolding, and eventual undoing, of a vibrant social movement that advocated not only independence from Spain but also the end of slavery and the elimination of racism. She is currently at work on a book-length project on the repercussions of the Haitian Revolution in Cuba and the Atlantic World. She lectured on "Cuban Slave Society and the Haitian Revolution."
February 15, 2009
A much anticipated book by our colleague Amalia Cabezas (UCR) will be released in June by Temple University Press. Economies of Desire is a superb scholarly work, an original and significant study of the socio-sexual economy that developed in connection with mass tourism in Cuba and the Dominican Republic in recent years.
This is what Professor Patricia Zavella (UCSC) says about it in the publicity blurb:
"Economies of Desire is very well written and compelling, drawing us into two historical contexts and illustrating women's agency as they negotiate the economic, political, and social constraints. Cabezas' many years of field research provide nuance to her analysis, and her critique of the feminist discourse about human rights is completely on target."
February 4-6, 2010
Cuban Research Institute Conference
The overarching theme of the conference, "Cuba 2010: An Island in a Global World," will focus on the current political, economic, cultural and social dynamics on the island and the Diaspora in the light of a changing world.
February 4, 2009
Cuba Libre: Revolution and Transition
UC Santa Cruz
A facilitated panel discussion comprised of experts on the complex history and current relationship between the United States and Cuba.
Invited panelists included freelance foreign correspondent Reese Erlich, author of Dateline Havana, documentary filmmaker and long- time Cuba expert, Saul Landau, UCSC Professor Lourdes Martínez- Echazábal, and San Francisco-based Immigration Attorney Bill Martinez, who specializes in cultural exchanges between the two countries. Facilitator: College Nine and Ten Provost, Helen Shapiro.
Event held at the College Nine and Ten Multipurpose Room.
Doors open at 7 pm. Free and open to the public.
January - September, 2009
Caribbean Conferences
A selection of upcoming conferences about the Caribbean.
December 13, 2008
UC-CUBA Chair’s report on travel to Cuba
I returned a few days ago from a research trip to Cuba. In addition to my own work, here's some items that might be of interest to the UC-CUBA community.
- I met with writer Leonardo Padura. FYI his new novel on Trotsky and Mercader is going through last minute tweaks with Tusquets editors in Barcelona and will be out in September. I gave Padura a copy of the video of his interview which we showed at our May conference.
- My trip coincided with a visit by 15 UC SF academics led by Tom Novotny. I began initial conversations re: cooperation between UC-CUBA and UC SF with Professor Nancy Burke and Dr. Richard Quint (Emeritus, UCSF).
- I also checked out a couple of casas particulares which were very nice, that I would be happy to recommend to anyone in the UC-CUBA community that will be visiting Cuba and needs inexpensive lodging.
November 12-13, 2008
Ela Troyano presented her documentary on La LUPE at UCLA on November 12, and at UC Irvine on November 13, 2008.
“La Lupe: Queen of Latin Soul” is a documentary chronicle of the life and career of transnational radio star and salsa icon Lupe Yoli, popularly known as "La Lupe" or "La YiYi," from her origins in Santiago, Cuba, to nightclubs in Havana and New York. For this in-depth and affectionate portrait, Troyano weaves rare archival footage from Cuba with interviews with family members and close associates in the music and entertainment worlds, including Afro- Cuban percussionist Mongo Santamaria and TV host Dick Cavett, and Cuban musicologists Helio Orovio and Radamés Giro.
November 13, 2008
Lecture on Cuba
"Turning the World Upside Down: Sugar Workers, Soviet and the Frustrated Revolution of 1933 in Cuba" by Professor Barry Carr
Professor Carr is a visiting professor from the History Institute of Social Research at Swinburn University, Melbourne, Australia.
Time: 12:00 - 1:00 pm
Place: Townsend Center for the Humanities (220 Stephens Hall)
Sponsored by UC Berkeley's Working Group on Cuba
May 2-3, 2008
Cuba: New Research Directions
The UC-Cuba Multi-Campus Research Program presents:
"Cuba: New Research Directions"
The UC-Cuba Multi Campus Research Program will bring more than 50 faculty and graduate students from seven UC campuses and other universities across the nation to reflect on recent research on Cuba. Topics will include: current economic trends, the state of U.S.-Cuba relations, history and literature, tourism, sexuality, music, and the position of intellectuals.
This conference is free and open to the public. Registration will be available onsite.
March 16, 2008
UC-CUBA doctoral student publishes article based on trip to Cuba
Joshua Jelly-Schapiro, (Geography, UC Berkeley) published an article in the Guardian drawing, in part, on the research trip he took with a UC mini-grant.
March - December, 2008
Caribbean Conferences
A selection of upcoming conferences about the Caribbean.
November 19, 2007
UCLA — Robin Moore, "Afro-Cuban Folklore and Revolution. Reflections on the career of Pedro Izquierdo,"
Robin Moore is the author of Music and Revolution. Cultural Change in Socialist Cuba (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006) and Nationalizing Blackness: afrocubanismo and artistic revolution in Havana, 1920-1940 (Pittsburgh: The University of Pittsburgh Press, 1997) which won the Gustave O. Arlt Award. He has studied African-derived music in Colombia, Brazil and Cuba and directs a Caribbean and a Mariachi ensemble. He is Associate Professor, School of Music, University of Texas at Austin. The event is cosponsored by The Cuba and the Caribbean Working Group, the Latin American Institute, and the Department of Ethnomusicology, UCLA. Monday, November 19,th 12-2 PM, 1402 Schoenberg Hall, UCLA (building across from the Faculty Center). Lunch will be provided.
November 7, 2007
Bush's Insane Approach to Cuba
Prof. Mark Sawyer (Political Science, UCLA) has published a piece in Ebony Magazine entitled "Bush's Insane Approach to Cuba: trying to save Cuba or trying to save votes?." It appeared on Tuesday, November 06, 2007.
November 4, 2007
Library Exhibit at UCI - California Universities Building Amistad: The UC-Cuba Academic Initiative
The Libraries' fall exhibit, California Universities Building Amistad: The UC-Cuba Initiative, celebrates the founding of the new UC-Cuba Initiative. The exhibit also showcases the UCI faculty who are key participants in the project and the Libraries' diverse resources supporting study and research on Cuba. The Initiative was established in 2006 to bring together interested academics from all UC campuses to coordinate and develop UC-Cuba related academic activities, and to advance levels of mutual knowledge and exchange that exist between the United States and Cuba.
California Universities Building Amistad includes sections on pre- and post-Revolutionary Cuba, U.S.-Cuba relations, social sciences, visual arts, performing arts, literature, and Cuban artists' books. The materials are drawn from both the general collection and Special Collections and Archives of the UCI Libraries. Philip MacLeod, Research Librarian for Spanish and Portuguese & Latin American Studies, is our curator.
May 23, 2007
Information on Academic Travel to Cuba
Please note that some kinds of educational or academic travel to Cuba do not require application for a specific license. To determine if the trip to Cuba you are planning will need a specific license, please see the information contained under "Who Can Go" in the OFAC overview of Cuban Assets Control Regulations of the link provide above.
April 22-23, 2007
UCSC - Cuban Filmmaker, Sergio Giral, visit UC Santa Cruz
Sergio Giral, one of Cuba's more influential filmmakers, will show and discuss some of his work at three campus of the University of California during the week of April 22 - 27. He will first visit UCSC (April 22- 23), followed by UCSD (April 24 - 25), and UCLA (April 26 - 27). This multicampus event is sponsored by the UC-CUBA Academic Initiative Multicumpus Research Program, and the Cuba in Americas Context Research Unit at UCSC. Giral's body of work has been dedicated to the study of Afro-Caribbean culture. For example his trilogy, El Otro Francisco (1974), Rancheador (1975), and Maluala (1979) critiques the role of sugar in nineteenth century Cuban culture, often deconstructing and reinterpreting the history of slavery and anti-slavery movements in Cuba. Another of Giral's well-known films Maria Antonia (1990) investigates the influence of Yoruba religion and culture in Cuba; the film was awarded the Trieste Latin American Film Festival Grand Prize, among other awards. More recently Giral has turned his attention towards civil rights struggles within the United States. His documentary Chronicle of an Ordinance (2000) investigates the civil rights struggles of the Gay and Lesbian community in Miami Dade County. The documentary was awarded Best Film/Video Documentary Production in the 2003 Black International Cinema Awards. For a more complete filmography visit www.giralmedia.com.
January 25, 2007
UCI - Philip Peters, Vice-President of the Lexington Institute, and an expert on Cuba, will lecture on current US Cuba policy
On January 25, Philip Peters, Vice-President of the Lexington Institute, and an expert on Cuba will lecture about current US Cuba policy at UCI. The event will be co-sponsored by International Studies and the UC-CUBA Initiative. The lecture will be from 3:30 to 5pm, Thursday the 25th, SSPA 1100.
January 24, 2007
UCSC - A Conversation with Cuban-American Writer Cristina García
On Wednesday, January 24th, at 1:00 p.m., Cristina García will conduct a seminar at the Merrill Provost House, followed by a reading at 7:00 p.m. at the new Humanities Auditorium. This event is free and open to the public. Sponsored by the Cuba in Americas and Transatlantic Contexts Research Unit, the Institute for Humanities Research at UCSC, Merrill College, and UC-CUBA Academic Initiative.
January 20, 2007
Professor Elizabeth Dore, Latin American Studies at the University of Southampton, UK, lectured at four UC campuses
Professor Elizabeth Dore, Latin American Studies at the University of Southampton, UK, lectured at four UC campuses over the last two weeks. Her presentations were based on her current research on memories of life in the Cuban revolution. Professor Dore lectured at UC San Diego, UC Irvine, UCLA and UC Berkeley. Her lectures were co-sponsored by UC-CUBA.
December 18, 2006
UC Cuba Director's Recent Trip to Cuba
Dear UC-CUBA list: I just returned from a 10-day research trip to Cuba which allowed me to contact a few of our Cuban counterparts to inform them about the formation of our UC-CUBA MRP. I traveled there in the company of our UCI colleague Professor Ken Janda who was involved in research at the Institute of Physics and Mathematics in Havana.
While in Cuba I continued my research on several projects with musicologists Leonardo Acosta and Radames Giro, music journalist Rafael Lam, and music documentary filmmaker José Galiño.
During my “free time” I met and discussed the formation of UC-CUBA with:
Havana University Professor Lázara Menéndez, expert on Cuban religions and religious art, whom Robin Derby and Andy Apter at UCLA would like to invite to the US for a series of presentations
Roberto Zurbano, of the Fondo Editorial de Casa de las Américas
Norberto Codina, director of La Gaceta, the journal of UNEAC, the Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba
Soraya Castro, of the Center for the Study of the US at the University of Havana
Pastor Castell, Director of the Escuela Nacional de Salud Pública, in an effort to facilitate study in Cuba by medical students from the UCI Med School
Novelist Leonardo Padura, whom fellow faculty members in the Spanish and Portuguese Dept at UC I are interested in inviting for a visit
Painter/poet Pedro de Oráa.
I also had a very pleasant visit with Rebecca Bodenheimer, UC Berkeley ABD, who is currently involved in her ethnomusicological field work re: rumba in Matanzas and Havana.
FYI, I traveled to Cuba to do my research under the general license provision and did not have any problems upon returning to the US.
Let me take advantage of this opportunity to wish everyone a very happy holiday season.
Raul
October 24, 2006
Legal Guideline for Academic Travel to Cuba
This page provides legal information for UC faculty, staff and students regarding travel to Cuba for research and educational purposes. The material provided below is limited to US restrictions imposed on academic freedom regarding travel Cuba. There are other issues such as freedom to publish and engage in academic collaboration, including the right to invite Cuban nationals to come to the United States without government interference that need to be addressed. Also, we intend to include information about Cuba's policies for US nationals and residents to engage in academic activities there and for Cuban nationals to visit the United States. We will add such information at a later date. Background: United States-based academic researchers working on Cuba-related projects are permitted to travel to Cuba under certain circumstances as determined by United States and Cuban government authorities. Similarly, Cuban scholars are permitted to travel to the United States for educational purposes as dictated and authorized by those authorities. Regulations are complex and change frequently. The information provided below are the latest we could assemble from the United States official sources. However, each UC faculty, staff or student traveling to Cuba for academic purpose should consult the latest information from the appropriate authorities in the United States and Cuba. A list of useful sources appears at the end of this guideline. Academic travel to Cuba is governed by a US trade embargo enforced by the U.S. Department of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). In recent years, OFAC has been limiting travel to Cuba and it imposed significant new restrictions in June 2004. For an up-to-date OFAC policies visit http://www.ustreas.gov/ofac. To learn about travel sanctions for Cuba search for "travel transactions Cuba". For general information on sanctions, click on the "Sanctions Program" link. US nationals and residents may spend money related to travel to, from, or within Cuba only as specifically permitted under the OFAC regulations. It is illegal for American to have transactions (spend money or receive gifts) in Cuba under most circumstances. However, it is legal for Americans to have transactions (spend money or receive gifts) in Cuba if they qualify under the "general license" described below or if they apply for and receive a “specific license.” OFAC often requires more than 90 days to issue specific licenses and may decide not to issue a specific license for the proposed activity. General License: A general license is one in which the terms are set forth in the OFAC regulations and which will apply to travelers without a determination or further action by OFAC if they qualify under the regulations. The following travelers are authorized, under the OFAC general license, to engage in travel transactions while in Cuba: • Journalists and supporting broadcasting or technical personnel (regularly employed in that capacity by a news reporting organization and traveling for journalistic activities). • Official government travelers (traveling on official business). • Members of international organizations of which the United States is also a member (traveling on official business). • Full-time professionals whose travel transactions are directly related to professional research in their professional areas, provided that their research 1) is of a noncommercial, academic nature; 2) comprises a full work schedule in Cuba; and 3) has a substantial likelihood of public dissemination. • Full-time professionals whose travel transactions are directly related to attendance at professional meetings or conferences in Cuba organized by an international professional organization, institution, or association that regularly sponsors such meetings or conferences in other countries. The organization, institution, or association sponsoring the meeting or conference may not be headquartered in the United States unless it has been specifically licensed to sponsor the meeting. The purpose of the meeting or conference cannot be the promotion of tourism in Cuba or other commercial activities involving Cuba, or to foster production of any bio-technological products. UC faculty and staff whose travel to Cuba fall within the activities described above (the two last bullets) should print a copy of the OFAC general license from http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/programs/cuba/cuba.pdf, highlight the exemption under which they travel and show it together with their UC ID card US customs officials when they return. Specific License: UC students who may want to travel to Cuba for educational or research purposes require a specific license. The Office of International Academic Activities of the University of California Office of the President (UCOP) has obtained such a specific educational license that is valid until February 28, 2007. The license could be used by students and full-time employees who travel to Cuba for educational purposes. (see, http://www.ucop.edu/acadaff/oiaa/cubalicense.html) There are six specific areas of educational endeavors involving travel to Cuba authorized under the UC specific license. These six areas are outlined on page 3, left column, on the OFAC summary of the Cuba sanctions available on its website: http://www.treas.gov/offices/enforcement/ofac/programs/cuba/cuba.pdf. Applicants for coverage under the UC specific license will need to provide information pertaining to their planned activities in Cuba, dates of intended stay, and proof of UC affiliation. They are also required to sign a "Licensee Agreement" stating that they understand, and will comply with, the provisions of the license and that they absolve UC of any possible liability in connection with their travel to Cuba. Student applicants must also obtain a brief statement of support from their faculty sponsors or advisors. Please contact Andrea Delap (adelap@eap.ucop.edu) for additional information and instructions on how to apply for coverage under the UC specific license.
October 13, 2006
UCSC - Cuba's Alternative Geographies - Ariana Hernández-Reguant
UCSC, June 1, at 3 p.m. "Cuba's Alternative Geographies" A talk by Ariana Hernández-Reguant Sponsored by the Cuba in Americas and Transatlantic Contexts Research Unit.
October 12, 2006
UCSD - The Culture of the Special Period Conference
October 12, 2006
UCSC - The Cultures of Socialism in Cuba: The 1960s, 1990s, and Beyond.
October 5, 2006
ENCASA Status Report - September 30, 2006
June 6-11, 2006
Film and Video Festival
Movie and Scientific Video Festival in Havana. To be held in the Comodoro Hotel, Havana City, Cuba.
May 9-12
International Agroecology Conferences.
To be held in La Havana.
May 3-6, 2006
Third International Conference on Karl Marx and the 21st Century
April 7, 2006
A symposium organized by the Cuba in Americas and Transatlantic Contexts Research Unit at UCSC
April 7, 2006
UCB - Cuban Music and Latin Jazz - Raúl A. Fernández
"Cuban Music and Latin Jazz"
Cuban dance music is connected, both musically and historically, to other Caribbean music, to salsa and to Latin Jazz. Prof. Fernández, who spent nine years conducting interviews with musicians, will explore the substantial contributions made by Afro-Cuban performers to the development of Latin Jazz.
Raúl A. Fernández is Professor of Social Sciences at UC Irvine. His research focuses on the economic and cultural transactions between the U.S. and Latin America. His most recent book is From Afro-Cuban Rhythms to Latin Jazz (2006).
Co-sponsored by the Cuba Working Group.
Friday, April 7, 12:00 pm
CLAS Conference Room, 2334 Bowditch Street
March 14, 2006
Professor Louis Pérez visits UC Campuses
I am pleased to announce that we have confirmed dates for visits by Professor Louis Pérez of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Please mark these down in your calendars.
May 2 -- UC Irvine
May 3 -- UC Santa Cruz
In the next two weeks we will provide details about events so that you can plan accordingly and pass on the information to interested students. Publicity is forthcoming.
Unfortunately, Professor Pérez is unable to visit more campuses due to time constraints. We hope next year other campuses will host the traveling scholar sponsored by the UC Cuba Academic Initiative.