The Production of Racial Logic in Cuban Education: an Anti-Colonial Approach by Arlo Kempf a Thesis Submitted in Conformity W

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

The Production of Racial Logic in Cuban Education: an Anti-Colonial Approach by Arlo Kempf a Thesis Submitted in Conformity W The Production of Racial Logic in Cuban Education: An Anti-Colonial Approach by Arlo Kempf A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto © Copyright by Arlo Kempf, 2010 The Production of Racial Logic in Cuban Education: An Anti-Colonial Approach Doctor of Philosophy, 2010 Arlo Kempf Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education University of Toronto Abstract This work brings an anti-colonial reading to the production and maintenance of racial logic in Cuban schooling, through conversations with, and surveys of Cuban teachers, as well as through analyses of secondary and primary documents. The study undertaken seeks to contribute to the limited existent research on race relations in Cuba, with a research focus on the Cuban educational context. Teasing and staking out a middle ground between the blinding and often hollow pro-Cuba fanaticism and the deafening anti -Cuban rhetoric from the left and right respectively, this project seeks a more nuanced, complete and dialogical understanding of race and race relations in Cuba, with a specific focus on the educational context. With this in mind, the learning objectives of this study are to investigate the following: 1) What role does racism play in Cuba currently and historically? 2) What is the role of education in the life of race and racism on the island? 3) What new questions and insights emerge from the Cuban example that might be of use to integrated anti-racism, anti-colonialism and class-oriented scholarship and activism? On a more specific level, the guiding research objectives of the study are to investigate the following: 1) How do teachers support and/or challenge dominant ideas of race and racism, and to what degree to do they construct their own meanings on these topics? 2) How do teachers understand the relevance of race and racism for teaching and learning? 3) How and why do teachers address race and racism in the classroom? The data reveal a complex process of meaning making by teachers who are at once produced by and producers of dominant race discourse on the island. Teachers are the front line race workers of the racial project, doing much of the heavy lifting in the ongoing struggle against racism, but are at the same time custodians of an approach to race relations which has on the whole failed to eliminate racism. This work investigates and explicates this apparent contradiction inherent in teachers’ work and discourse on the island, revealing a flawed and complex form of Cuban anti-racism. ii Acknowledgements For the lucky student a dissertation is in many ways a group effort. I have been very lucky. I would like to acknowledge the tremendous support of my committee. My supervisor, Professor George Jerry Sefa Dei has provided guidance throughout the process and has, quite simply, taught me an immeasurable amount. Professor Peter H. Sawchuk has supported me at every turn and has gone out of his way to strengthen and solidify this work. Professor Njoki Nathani Wane has been an ally for years, supporting and welcoming my family and me in countless ways. George, Peter and Njoki I am truly grateful to have had the opportunity to work with you and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I would also like to acknowledge the support of Professor France Winddance Twine, whose comments will guide future versions of this work, and who helped me to contextualize the project as a whole. I also thank Professor Paul Olson for his ongoing interest and availability. In the Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education, Kristine Pearson, Kari Dehli and Paul Tsang have been consistently kind, open and supportive of me and my work, and have made OISE a human and thus manageable place. I also wish to acknowledge the community of learners and activists which have surrounded me over the past 5 years at OISE and elsewhere, and in particular the members of the Uhuru collective which grounds and guides so many. In Cuba, tremendous thanks are due to the teachers who shared their time, thoughts, learnings, wisdom, food and homes with me. There is no study without you. Thanks as well to the research team, whose members have asked to remain anonymous — the survey would have been impossible without you. To Daylen and Xiomara, thank you for your generosity and hospitality. To the staff at the Biblioteca Nacional José Martí, in Havana, thank you for your patience and for warning me to stay away from the cafeteria food. The tremendous challenges and joys of this process have been shared, necessarily with those closest to me. I thank Todd Eagle Light and Peter Poulet for reading countless early drafts, talking to me about the thesis well past the point of their own interest on many occasions, and for their intellectual generosity and friendship throughout. I thank my mother-out-law, Darlene McKee, for her inestimable support of our family during the past 3 years. I thank Heather Douglas, my friend and co-parent who reminds me not to take myself or grad school too seriously. I thank my father, Randall Kempf, for teaching me to learn and for his generosity of energy and interest throughout this process. To Lola, my daughter, it was your imminent arrival 12 years ago which sent me panicking to undergrad, so thanks for pointing the way. To my little son Cy, thank you for giving (and sometimes taking) the energy needed to do this work. You two are the joy. Finally, I wish to thank my partner, Meghan McKee, for just about everything. A professor at OISE once remarked that it is hard for a partner to understand that you are working on your thesis as you sit looking out the window while he or she goes off to work. While I always try to look busy while you go off to work, I think this remark rings false in your case. No apprehension, no tension. In the course of love you have been all things from the beginning. I am ever grateful to have you in my life. iii Table of Contents Abstract... ii Acknowledgements... iii Chapter One. An Introduction... 1 1.0 Introduction... 1 1.1 Objectives, context and location... 5 1.11 On location... p. 13 1.2 Overview of the study... 14 Chapter Two. Situating Cuban education in the post revolutionary context: Structure, tenets and issues... p. 21 2.0 Introduction... 21 2.1 Education and the revolution: Politics and structure... 22 2.12 Structure... 31 2.2 The content of revolutionary education... 33 2.3 Equity issues in Cuban education... 39 Chapter Three. The anti-colonial discursive framework: Toward an application to the Cuban educational context... 42 3.0 Introduction... 42 3.1 Introducing the anti-colonial framework... 44 3.11 Key thinkers and works: Dei, Fanon, Césaire and Memmi ... 47 3.2 The operations of colonialism and anti-colonialism... 57 3.21 Mechanics... 58 3.22 Saliency and entry points... 61 3.3 Anti-colonialism and trans-historical analysis... 63 3.31 From post-colonialism to anti-colonialism... 63 3.32 Anti-colonialism and history... 67 Chapter Four. Review of selected relevant literature... p. 72 4.0 Introduction... 72 4.1 A Nation for All: Race Inequality and Politics in Twentieth Century Cuba... 73 4.2 Afro-Cuban Voices: On Race and Identity in Contemporary Cuba... 84 4.3 Castro, the Blacks and Africa... 96 4.4 Racial Politics in Post-Revolutionary Cuba... 106 Chapter Five. Race, racelessness and anti-Racism: An anti-colonial genealogy of race discourse in Cuba... 118 5.0 Introduction... 118 5.02 A note on discourse... 121 5.1 Stolen land, stolen peoples... 122 5.2 Founding discourses... 126 5.3 Discursive republics in transition and the birth of a nation: Republican Cuba (1898–1912) ... 138 5.31 See no, hear no, speak no: Cubanidad, silence and denial... 145 5.32 Saco’s Cubanidad... 146 iv 5.33 Martí’s Cubanidad... 147 5.34 The PIC and the Massacre of 1912... 150 5.4 Race discourse in post revolutionary Cuba, (1959-present)... 159 5.41 Cubanidad and the new revolutionary man... 162 5.42 The Special Period (1990 –2001)... 170 5.43 Nascent race in the public sphere: From the Special Period to the 21st century... 174 Chapter Six Part One. Methods and methodology... 184 6i.0 Introduction... 184 6i.1 Description of research questions and areas of data collection... 185 6i.2 Implicating the politics of the project and researcher location... 188 6i.21 Politics of the project... 188 6i.22 Researcher location... 190 6i.3 Methodological rationale: Assessing qualitative and quantitative approaches and the mixed method approach ... 195 6i.31The qualitative approach... 195 6i.32 The quantitative approach... 198 6i.33 The mixed method approach... 199 Chapter Six Part Two. Interview data analysis: Cuban teachers and general understandings of race... 201 6ii.0 Introduction... 201 6ii.1 Official stories... 203 6ii.11 Disconnection... 206 6ii.12 Formal equality... 208 6ii.2 Instances of racism: Tourism and police... 212 6ii.21 Tourism... 214 6ii.22 Law enforcement... 216 6ii.3 Conceptions and constructions of race, racism and equality... 218 6ii.31 Racism defined... 219 6ii.32 Racism (un)explained... 223 6ii.33 Socialism and race... 231 Chapter Seven Interview Data Analysis. Constructions of race and racial logic in Cuban schools... 236 7.0 Introduction... 236 7.1 Official stories... 239 7.11 The story of racism, denials of racism... 239 7.12 Representation..
Recommended publications
  • Trading with the Enemy: Opening the Door to U.S. Investment in Cuba
    ARTICLES TRADING WITH THE ENEMY: OPENING THE DOOR TO U.S. INVESTMENT IN CUBA KEVIN J. FANDL* ABSTRACT U.S. economic sanctions on Cuba have been in place for nearly seven deca- des. The stated intent of those sanctionsÐto restore democracy and freedom to CubaÐis still used as a justi®cation for maintaining harsh restrictions, despite the fact that the Castro regime remains in power with widespread Cuban public support. Starving the Cuban people of economic opportunities under the shadow of sanctions has signi®cantly limited entrepreneurship and economic development on the island, despite a highly educated and motivated popula- tion. The would-be political reformers and leaders on the island emigrate, thanks to generous U.S. immigration policies toward Cubans, leaving behind the Castro regime and its ardent supporters. Real change on the island will come only if the United States allows Cuba to restart its economic engine and reengage with global markets. Though not a guarantee of political reform, eco- nomic development is correlated with demand for political change, giving the economic development approach more potential than failed economic sanctions. In this short paper, I argue that Cuba has survived in spite of the U.S. eco- nomic embargo and that dismantling the embargo in favor of open trade poli- cies would improve the likelihood of Cuba becoming a market-friendly communist country like China. I present the avenues available today for trade with Cuba under the shadow of the economic embargo, and I argue that real po- litical change will require a leap of faith by the United States through removal of the embargo and support for Cuba's economic development.
    [Show full text]
  • New Castro Same Cuba
    New Castro, Same Cuba Political Prisoners in the Post-Fidel Era Copyright © 2009 Human Rights Watch All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America ISBN: 1-56432-562-8 Cover design by Rafael Jimenez Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th floor New York, NY 10118-3299 USA Tel: +1 212 290 4700, Fax: +1 212 736 1300 [email protected] Poststraße 4-5 10178 Berlin, Germany Tel: +49 30 2593 06-10, Fax: +49 30 2593 0629 [email protected] Avenue des Gaulois, 7 1040 Brussels, Belgium Tel: + 32 (2) 732 2009, Fax: + 32 (2) 732 0471 [email protected] 64-66 Rue de Lausanne 1202 Geneva, Switzerland Tel: +41 22 738 0481, Fax: +41 22 738 1791 [email protected] 2-12 Pentonville Road, 2nd Floor London N1 9HF, UK Tel: +44 20 7713 1995, Fax: +44 20 7713 1800 [email protected] 27 Rue de Lisbonne 75008 Paris, France Tel: +33 (1)43 59 55 35, Fax: +33 (1) 43 59 55 22 [email protected] 1630 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 500 Washington, DC 20009 USA Tel: +1 202 612 4321, Fax: +1 202 612 4333 [email protected] Web Site Address: http://www.hrw.org November 2009 1-56432-562-8 New Castro, Same Cuba Political Prisoners in the Post-Fidel Era I. Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................... 1 Recommendations ....................................................................................................................... 7 II. Illustrative Cases ......................................................................................................................... 11 Ramón Velásquez
    [Show full text]
  • Navigating Black Identity Development: the Power of Interactive Multicultural Read Alouds with Elementary-Aged Children
    education sciences Article Navigating Black Identity Development: The Power of Interactive Multicultural Read Alouds with Elementary-Aged Children Rebekah E. Piper College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78224, USA; [email protected] Received: 9 April 2019; Accepted: 23 April 2019; Published: 18 June 2019 Abstract: Racial identity development in young children is influenced by interactions with teachers and curriculum in schools. This article, using the framework of critical race theory, critical literacy, and critical pedagogy, explores how three elementary-aged Black children view their own identity development. Specifically, observing how children interact with Movement-Oriented Civil Rights-Themed Children’s Literature (MO-CRiTLit) in the context of a non-traditional summer literacy program, Freedom Schools, to influence their Black identity. Professional development and preservice teacher preparation are needed to support teachers as they navigate through learning about pedagogical practices that increase student engagement. Keywords: critical literacy; Civil Rights; Black identity; children 1. Introduction The central question addressed by the Supreme Court during the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954) [1] was whether the segregation of children in public schools based on their race, deprived minoritized children of equal educational opportunities when everything else was equal [2–4]. This question has been, and continues to be, answered in the negative, as evidenced in an educational system in which Children of Color are repeatedly reported to have lower reading and numeracy scores in comparison to their white peers. In 2003, Education Trust, Inc. reported that, nationally, fourth-grade African-Americans fell behind their white peers in reading.
    [Show full text]
  • Free and Unfree Labor in the Building of Roads and Rails in Havana, Cuba, –∗
    IRSH (), pp. – doi:./S © Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis The Path to Sweet Success: Free and Unfree Labor in the Building of Roads and Rails in Havana, Cuba, –∗ E VELYN P. J ENNINGS St. Lawrence University Vilas Hall , Canton, NY ,USA E-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT: Havana’s status as a colonial port shaped both its infrastructure needs and the patterns of labor recruitment and coercion used to build it. The port city’s initial economic and political orientation was maritime, with capital and labor invested largely in defense and shipbuilding. By the nineteenth century, Cuba had become a plantation colony based on African enslavement, exporting increasing quantities of sugar to Europe and North America. Because the island was relatively underpopu- lated, workers for infrastructure projects and plantations had to be imported through global circuits of coerced labor, such as the transatlantic slave trade, the transportation of prisoners, and, in the s, indentured workers from Europe, Mexico, or Asia. Cuban elites and colonial officials in charge of transportation projects experimented with different mixes of workers, who labored on the roads and railways under various degrees of coercion, but always within the socio-economic and cultural framework of a society based on the enslavement of people considered racially distinct. Thus, the indenture of white workers became a crucial supplement to other forms of labor coer- cion in the building of rail lines in the s, but Cuban elites determined that these workers’ whiteness was too great a risk to the racial hierarchy of the Cuban labor market and therefore sought more racially distinct contract workers after .
    [Show full text]
  • Educational Experiences During the “Special Period” in Cuba
    Dr. Martin Camacho Dean, Fain Collegeof Fine Arts Midwestern State University Arts Education in Cuba Revolutionary Period Expansion of artistic education and prioritization from 1961 Incorporation of music, dance and visual arts disciplines in primary education (1975) Creation of the Escuela Nacional de Arte System ENA (National Schools of Arts) 1962 – Music, Visual Arts, Theatre, Ballet, Dance, Circus Creation of Specialized Artistic Elementary System (Vocational Schools) ISA – Instituto Superior de Arte University of the Arts Created in 1976 for three disciplines: music, visual arts, and theatre. It recently added Media Arts (FAMCA) and four units outside Havana Specialized Artistic Education Music Example VOCATIONAL SHOOLS - Music Children enter Vocational Music Schools between ages 6-10 and complete K 1-9. Schools are available at the province (state) level. NATIONAL SCHOOLS OF ART - After a competitive process, selected students move to the National Schools or Art to complete professional training and grades K 10-12. Schools are available only at the regional level. UNIVERSITY - After a competitive process, selected students are admitted at ISA, University of the Arts, the only institution of higher education in the arts in Cuba. Cuban Curricula and Soviet Support (Music) Musical educational model was copied and supported by and large by the Soviet Union. The music curricula favored the formation of trained musicians in classical and the Western European tradition. Disciplines such as jazz, afro-Cuban, or traditional Cuban music were not particularly thought as strong within the music curricula, but as a co-curricular or extra-curricular activity. Special Period – Periodo Especial of 1990 The collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s and the toughening of the American Embargo (Torricelli and Helms-Burton law) brought very negative economic consequences.
    [Show full text]
  • Abdias Nascimento E O Surgimento De Um Pan-Africanismo Contemporâneo Global Moore, Carlos Wedderburn
    Abdias Nascimento e o surgimento de um pan-africanismo contemporâneo global Moore, Carlos Wedderburn Meu primeiro encontro com Abdias do Nascimento, amigo e companheiro intelectual há quatro décadas, aconteceu em Havana, em 1961, quando a revolução cubana ainda não havia completado três anos de existência. Eu tinha 19 anos, Abdias, 47. Para mim, esse encontro significou o descobrimento do mundo negro da América Latina. Para ele, essa visita a Cuba abria uma interrogação quanto aos métodos que se deveriam empregar para vencer quatro séculos de racismo surgido da escravidão. E se me atrevo a prefaciar este primeiro volume de suas Obras, é apenas porque no tempo dessa nossa longa e intensa amizade forjou-se uma parceria política na qual invariavelmente participamos de ações conjuntas no Caribe, na América do Norte e no Continente Africano. As duas obras aqui apresentadas tratam de eventos acontecidos no período de seu exílio político (1968-1981) e dos quais fui testemunha. É, portanto, a partir dessa posição de amigo, de companheiro intelectual e de testemunha que prefacio este volume, sabendo que deste modo assumo uma pesada responsabilidade crítica tanto para com os meus contemporâneos quanto em relação às gerações vindouras. Duas obras compõem este volume. O traço que as une é o fato de os acontecimentos narrados com precisão de jornalista em Sitiado em Lagos decorrerem diretamente das colocações políticas e da leitura sócio-histórica sobre a natureza da questão racial no Brasil que se encontram sintetizadas em O genocídio do negro brasileiro. Essas obras foram escritas da forma que caracteriza o discurso "nascimentista" - de modo direto, didático, e num tom forte, à maneira de um grito.
    [Show full text]
  • El Gran Caribe: Historia, Cultura Y Política
    EL GRAN CARIBE: HISTORIA, CULTURA Y POLÍTICA SERIE PRETEXTOS N.º 29 EL GRAN CARIBE: HISTORIA, CULTURA Y POLÍTICA MARTA ARDILA COMPILADORA Bogotá, junio de 2005 Prohibida la reproducción o cita impresa o electrónica, total o parcial, de esta obra, sin autorización expresa y por escrito del Departamento de Publicaciones de la Universidad Externado de Colombia. ISBN 958-616-947-2 © MARTA ARDILA (Compiladora), 2005 © UNIVERSIDAD EXTERNADO DE COLOMBIA, 2005 Derechos exclusivos de publicación y distribución de la obra Calle 12 n.º 1-17 este, Bogotá - Colombia. Fax 342 4948 [www.librosuexternado.com] Primera edición: junio de 2005 Diseño de cubierta: Departamento de Publicaciones, Universidad Externado de Colombia Composición: Proyectos Editoriales Curcio Penen Impresión y encuadernación: Departamento de Publicaciones, con un tiraje de 1.000 ejemplares. Impreso en Colombia Printed in Colombia CONTENIDO PRESENTACIÓN 9 INTRODUCCIÓN 11 PRIMERA PARTE ECONOMÍA POLÍTICA Y SOCIEDAD EN EL CARIBE LA CONQUISTA DEL CARIBE EN EL SIGLO XVI. HISTORIA LOCAL DISEÑO GLOBAL Aneta Ikonómova 25 EL IMAGINARIO AFRICANO DEL CARIBE Madeleine Alingué 51 GEOGRAFÍA, POLÍTICA Y CULTURA DEL CARIBE María Teresa Aya 63 LOS DESASTRES, LAS POLÍTICAS PÚBLICAS Y EL MODELO DE DESARROLLO: DESAFÍOS DEL CARIBE EN EL SIGLO XXI Jorge Iván Cuervo 85 SEGUNDA PARTE EL CARIBE Y SU MUNDO EXTERNO LA RELEVANCIA INSTITUCIONAL EN LOS PROCESOS DE INTEGRACIÓN DEL CARIBE Eric Tremolada 103 7 EL CARIBE Y COLOMBIA: HETEROGENEIDAD, SEGURIDAD E INSERCIÓN Martha Ardila 129 LA UNIÓN EUROPEA Y EL GRAN CARIBE Rosa Duro 159 EL PAPEL DE ASIA-PACÍFICO Y EL CARIBE EN EL ACTUAL ORDENAMIENTO ESTRATÉGICO Pío García 209 TERCERA PARTE CANADA AND THE CARIBBEAN Graeme S.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Children's Racial Identity and Its Impact on Their
    THE ROLE OF CHILDREN’S RACIAL IDENTITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THEIR SCIENCE EDUCATION by Lisa Mekia McDonald Dissertation Committee: Professor Felicia Moore Mensah, Sponsor Professor Denise Mahfood Approved by the Committee on the Degree of Doctor of Education Date: ___________________________________February 12, 2020 Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Education in Teachers College, Columbia University 2020 ABSTRACT THE ROLE OF CHILDREN’S RACIAL IDENTITY AND ITS IMPACT ON THEIR SCIENCE EDUCATION Lisa Mekia McDonald Racial identity plays an important role in the development of children’s narratives. In the structure of the classroom there is a disconnect for students between home and school. The structure of the classroom consists of the social relationships that children have with their peers and teachers. The structure of the classroom also includes how the classroom is set up for learning, such as the curriculum. Racial identity is also a valuable aspect in the construction of knowledge as children learn science. Racial identity is not often addressed with young children and science. Young children need to be able to see themselves in science regardless of their own race or ethnicity. Critical race theory (CRT) was used to examine and situate the context of race with children’s identity. Sociocultural theory was used to describe their process of learning. The participants of this study included 10 children in grades 3 through 5 who attended a diverse urban school located in New York City and their parents (10 parents). A qualitative approach was used to allow both children and parents to share their perspectives on their experience with science and difficult topics that pertain to race and/or skin color.
    [Show full text]
  • From Theory to Practice in a Critical Race Pedagogy Classroom Van T
    i.e.: inquiry in education Volume 9 | Issue 1 Article 3 2017 In Real Time: From Theory to Practice in a Critical Race Pedagogy Classroom Van T. Lac University of Texas-San Antonio, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.nl.edu/ie Recommended Citation Lac, Van T.. (2017). In Real Time: From Theory to Practice in a Critical Race Pedagogy Classroom. i.e.: inquiry in education: Vol. 9: Iss. 1, Article 3. Retrieved from: http://digitalcommons.nl.edu/ie/vol9/iss1/3 Copyright © 2017 by the author(s) i.e.: inquiry in education is published by the Center for Practitioner Research at the National College of Education, National-Louis University, Chicago, IL. Cover Page Footnote I would like to thank the following individuals for offering me critical feedback on this manuscript: Kim Bancroft, Gwen Baxley, Margarita Bianco, Carolyn Kelley, Andy Hatcher, and Pete Miller. This article is available in i.e.: inquiry in education: http://digitalcommons.nl.edu/ie/vol9/iss1/3 Lac: In Real Time In Real Time From Theory to Practice in a Critical Race Pedagogy Classroom Van T. Lac University of Texas-San Antonio, San Antonio, USA Introduction I enter this teacher action research project with an interest in studying how I, as a high school teacher, developed a critical race pedagogy (CRP) curriculum for students in an out-of-school context. My intrigue with race started at an early age growing up in Oakland, California, where my classmates were primarily of African American, Central American, and Southeast Asian descent. As a Southeast Asian student in Oakland schools, even with 100% students of color in my classes, my teachers in school rarely talked about race or racism.
    [Show full text]
  • Cuba's Social Services
    CUBA’S SOCIAL SERVICES: A REVIEW OF EDUCATION, HEALTH, AND SANITATION* Dan Erikson, Annie Lord and Peter Wolf Inter-American Dialogue January 31, 2002 * Commissioned as background for the World Development Report 2004: Making Services Work for Poor People. The authors would like to thank Arachu Castro of Harvard University, Sheryl Lutjens of Arizona University, and Jeffrey Puryear of the Inter-American Dialogue for their comments on previous drafts. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction to Cuba’s Social Services 3 2. Cuba’s Education System 8 3. Cuba’s Healthcare and Sanitation 21 4. Appendix 32 5. Bibliography 38 2 INTRODUCTION TO CUBA’S SOCIAL SERVICES Cuba has become internationally recognized for its achievements in the areas of education and health, with social service delivery outcomes that surpass most countries in the developing world and in some areas match first-world standards. Since the Cuban revolution in 1959, and the subsequent establishment of a communist one-party government, the country has created a social service system that guarantees universal access to education and health care provided by the state. This model has enabled Cuba to achieve near universal literacy, the eradication of certain diseases, widespread access to potable water and basic sanitation, and among the lowest infant mortality rates and longest life expectancies in the region. A review of Cuba’s social indicators reveals a pattern of almost continuous improvement from the 1960s through the end of the 1980s. Several major indices, such as life expectancy and infant mortality, continued to improve during the country’s economic crisis of the 1990s, although other areas, such as incidence of certain diseases and over-65 mortality, were negatively affected.
    [Show full text]
  • Environmental Law in Cuba
    ENVIRONMENTAL LAW IN CUBA OLIVER A. HOUCK*1 Table of Contents Prologue .................................................................................................1 I. A View of the Problem ...................................................................3 II. Institutions and the Law..................................................................8 III. The Environmental Awakening .....................................................13 IV. The Agency, The Strategy and Law 81...........................................18 A. CITMA ..................................................................................19 B. The National Environmental Strategy .......................................21 C. Law 81, the Law of the Environment ........................................23 V. Environmental Impact Analysis .....................................................25 A. What and When......................................................................27 B. Who .......................................................................................31 C. Alternatives ............................................................................34 D. Review...................................................................................35 VI. Coastal Zone Management............................................................38 VII. Biological Diversity ......................................................................47 VIII. Implementation ............................................................................57 IX. The Economy
    [Show full text]
  • Ever Faithful
    Ever Faithful Ever Faithful Race, Loyalty, and the Ends of Empire in Spanish Cuba David Sartorius Duke University Press • Durham and London • 2013 © 2013 Duke University Press. All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper ∞ Tyeset in Minion Pro by Westchester Publishing Services. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Sartorius, David A. Ever faithful : race, loyalty, and the ends of empire in Spanish Cuba / David Sartorius. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978- 0- 8223- 5579- 3 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 978- 0- 8223- 5593- 9 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Blacks— Race identity— Cuba—History—19th century. 2. Cuba— Race relations— History—19th century. 3. Spain— Colonies—America— Administration—History—19th century. I. Title. F1789.N3S27 2013 305.80097291—dc23 2013025534 contents Preface • vii A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s • xv Introduction A Faithful Account of Colonial Racial Politics • 1 one Belonging to an Empire • 21 Race and Rights two Suspicious Affi nities • 52 Loyal Subjectivity and the Paternalist Public three Th e Will to Freedom • 94 Spanish Allegiances in the Ten Years’ War four Publicizing Loyalty • 128 Race and the Post- Zanjón Public Sphere five “Long Live Spain! Death to Autonomy!” • 158 Liberalism and Slave Emancipation six Th e Price of Integrity • 187 Limited Loyalties in Revolution Conclusion Subject Citizens and the Tragedy of Loyalty • 217 Notes • 227 Bibliography • 271 Index • 305 preface To visit the Palace of the Captain General on Havana’s Plaza de Armas today is to witness the most prominent stone- and mortar monument to the endur- ing history of Spanish colonial rule in Cuba.
    [Show full text]