Cuban Studies
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david rockefeller Center for Latin american studies harvard university cuban studies at harvard university 1998 to 2013 the Cuban studies Program at the david rockefeller Center for Latin american studies (drCLAS) stands as the largest, most diverse and most solidly connected to academic and scientific institutions in Cuba among u.s. university programs that foster academic research and education on the island. the program is guided by harvard faculty research on a wide spectrum of academic fields, namely the social sciences, environment, education, public health/ medical sciences, humanities, library exchange and urban planning. section header contents eConomiC and soCiaL PoLiCy 5 environment 11 humanities 13 PubLiC heaLth and mediCine 19 u.s.-Cuba PoLiCy 24 urban PLanning 29 Libraries 32 harvard CoLLege Program in Cuba 33 www.drCLas.harvard.edu/Cuba 1 harvard university and cuba Harvard University’s relationship with Cuba Currently, the number of faculty and students stretches back over a hundred years. At the end of the teaching and studying topics related to Cuba includes the nineteenth century, Harvard scholars began conducting humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Today studies at The Harvard Botanical Station for Tropical an interest in research related to Cuba can be found Research in Cienfuegos, Cuba. The Botanical Station in almost all divisions of the university, including the would eventually become part of Harvard’s Arnold Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the professional schools Arboretum. In 1900, more than a thousand Cuban of Business, Design, Divinity, Education, Government, teachers traveled to Harvard for training in the American Law, Medicine, and Public Health. education system in the midst of the U.S. intervention on the island. Then, in 1912, the eminent paleontologist the Cuban studies Program at the david Carlos de la Torre received an honorary doctoral degree roCkefeLLer Center for Latin ameriCan studies from Harvard for his career accomplishments – the first Since its inception in 1999, the Cuban Studies Program at Cuban to receive such an honor. the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies Following these beginnings, Harvard has supported has evolved into one of the most extensive and diverse research and teaching on Cuba that has grown over the ventures of its kind. Unlike any other program in the course of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. United States, the program caters to scholars from areas Harvard’s long-standing interest in Cuba is reflected in across the wide spectrum of academic fields, namely the number of faculty with research interests in Cuba, the social sciences, history, environment, education, in the comparatively large number of courses that treat chemistry, public health and medical sciences, public Cuban issues, and in the University’s extensive library policy, the arts and humanities, religion, library exchange and museum holdings of Cuban materials. For instance, and urban planning. Components of these collaborations the Escoto Collection at Houghton Library contains have included workshops and symposia in Cuba and valuable primary documents related to Cuban history other countries, the publication of co-edited volumes, and and culture. Likewise, the collections of the Museum of research stays conducted by Cuban scholars at Harvard. Comparative Zoology reflect a sustained interest in the Guided by the oversight and leadership of the Harvard study of Cuban flora and fauna. University-wide faculty Committee on Cuban Studies, 2 Cuban studies Program at harvard university section header www.drCLas.harvard.edu/Cuba 3 introduction the Program’s work has been sustained with generous including the Instituto Juan Marinello, Revista Temas, support from Atlantic Philanthropies, the John D. and the research institutes of the University of Havana, the Catherine MacArthur Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Center for the Sociological and Psychological Studies the Christopher Reynolds Foundation, and private (CIPS), the Institute of Tropical Medicine Pedro Kourí donors. (IPK), the Jardin Botánico de Cienfuegos, the Group The Center’s program of scholarly collaboration and for the Integrated Development of the Capital (GDIC), exchanges with Cuba has sought to accomplish three and the Academia de Ciencias de Cuba. Numerous important goals: international and U.S.-based institutions have also been (a) to facilitate research on Cuba and the development essential partners in the Center’s programs including the of academic relationships in Cuba by Harvard faculty University of Massachusetts-Boston, Boston University, and students; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Latin (b) to assist Harvard's educational and cultural American Studies Association, the Pan American Health programs in Cuba; and, Organization (PAHO), El Colegio de México, and the (c) to strengthen institutional ties between Harvard U.S. House of Representatives Cuba Working Group. As and Cuban academic, scientific and research institutions part of these endeavors, each year during the last decade, through visiting faculty and researchers as well as jointly many Harvard faculty and students have traveled to organized workshops and conferences. Cuba for research or other educational activities. Since 1994, DRCLAS organized more than twelve At Harvard, DRCLAS has sponsored hundreds of academic conferences related to Cuba. Meetings public events on issues and research related to Cuba. The covered topics that included the history of U.S.-Cuban events have included seminars with Harvard faculty and cultural relations, current U.S.-Cuban relations broadly Cuban visiting scholars, film screenings, and major public understood, the impact of health reforms on control of events with visiting Cuban intellectuals and public figures. infectious diseases in Cuba and other Latin American DRCLAS has also hosted a works-in-progress workshop countries, the history of the former Harvard Botanical for Harvard undergraduate and graduate students Garden (now the Jardin Botánico de Cienfuegos), working on theses and dissertations related to Cuba. the lessons to be learned from Cuba’s dengue control In 2007, the Center launched the Harvard College program, the current and future prospects for U.S. Program in Cuba, a semester-length study abroad business in Cuba, and applied research on economic and program in Havana for Harvard undergraduates. social policy, among others. Through 2013, 43 Harvard undergraduates have Since 1999 and through 2013, the Center has hosted participated in the program and studied alongside their 87 Cuban visiting scholars for extended periods of Cuban counterparts at the University of Havana. research in fields as diverse as archival preservation, The Cuban Studies Program Report covers economics, history, intellectual property law, activities since the Program’s inception to 2013. The literature, tropical medicine, political science, public activities are divided into thematic areas that reflect administration, public health and urban planning. areas of collaboration: Public Health and Medicine, As a result, DRCLAS has published three edited Applied Economic and Social Policy, U.S.-Cuba Policy, volumes resulting from joint work with Cuban co-editors Humanities, Urban Planning, and Libraries. A section and showcasing scholarship by both U.S. and Cuban on the Harvard College Program in Cuba also includes scholars. These volumes are detailed in the following information on the program and students’ reflections on pages. their experiences. Aiming to strengthen and deepen initiatives in a broad range of disciplines, a cornerstone of the Center’s work has been to build links between research centers in Cuba and Harvard. The Center has worked with several Cuban academic and scientific institutions, 4 Cuban studies Program at harvard university section header economic and social policy www.drCLas.harvard.edu/Cuba 5 economic and social policy Over the past thirteen years, the DRCLAS Cuban Studies Program has supported research on economic and social Faculty Projects and Grants policy in Cuba in areas related to policy and management at the Universidad de la Habana and applied economic and Ford Foundation, two-year $175,000 social policy research. Partner institutions in the latter areas grant (Jorge Domínguez) for a project on applied economic and social policy have included the Vice-Rectoria, Relaciones Internacionales research. (2013) Universidad de La Habana, Centro de Estudios de la Economía Cubana (CEEC), Centro de Investigaciones de la Ford Foundation, two-year $200,000 grant (Jorge Domínguez, Arachu Castro), Economía Internacional, the Facultad Latinoamericana de for a project on applied economic Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO), the Centro de Investigaciones policy research; (2) social policy and Psicológicas y Sociológicas (CIPS), and the Swiss Agency for program evaluation research, (3) medical anthropology research on the impact of Cooperation and Development (COSUDE). AIDS treatment; and, (4) support for The Cuban economy has undergone a dramatic Temas, Cuba’s leading peer-reviewed transformation over the course of the last decade and these journal in the humanities and social sciences. (2010) changes may accelerate in the near term as a result of a economic policy changes announced by the government Ford Foundation, two-year $160,000 grant of President Raúl Castro. Research in economic and social (Jorge Domínguez, Arachu Castro), for a project on (a) applied economic policy policy