Middlesex University London Middlesex University Research Repository: an open access repository of Middlesex University research http: //eprints. mdx. ac. uk Rodriguez-Falcon, Olga, 2008. Urban utopias in Havana's representations: an interdisciplinary analysis. Available from Middlesex University's Research Repository. Copyright: Middlesex University Research Repository makes the University's research available electronically. Copyright and moral rights to this thesis/research project are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. The work is supplied on the understanding that any use for commercial gain is strictly forbidden. A copy may be downloaded for personal, non-commercial, research or study without prior permission and without charge. Any use of the thesis/research project for private study or research must be properly acknowledged with reference to the work's full bibliographic details. 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An Interdisciplinary Analysis A thesissubmitted to MiddlesexUniversity in partialfulfilment of therequirements for thedegree of Doctorof Philosophy Olga Rodriguez-Falcon Schoolsof Arts, Middlesex University Date of Submission: April 2008 THESIS CONTAINS CD/DVD Thesis Abstract: This investigationconsists of an interdisciplinary analysisof photographic,cinematographic, architecturaland literary documentsrepresenting the city of Havanain Cuba during different periodsof the twentiethcentury. These periods are: the decadeof the Great Depression;the 1950sduring the rapid growth of the tourist industry in the island; the first fifteen years following the 1959 Cuban Revolution; and the so-called `Special Period' during the 1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was during these periods that the city went through very important transformations due to historical and cultural contingencies. These contingencies refer to the beginnings of the development of the city as a tourist centre, the first debates and cultural manifestations related to the Afro-Cuban traditions in the island, the post- 1959 revolutionary processesand the effects of the end of the Cold War on the city. The documents analysed have been drawn firstly from cultural productions made by Cubans: Cuban filmography and photography pre- and post-1959. Secondly, there are also those documents produced by non-Cubans, mainly Hollywood productions and other types of representation, which have also contributed greatly to create a particular image of Havana. An important part of this analysis also includes the architectural particularities of the city, with an emphasis on the symbology of some of its main buildings, such as the Capitolio and the National Hotel. This analysisrelates the dominantvisual tropesof the Cubancapital with more generic discoursesregarding the tradition of utopian thoughtin the West and their embodimentin the image of the moderncity. The diverse archival documentsdiscussed throughout this thesis reflect recurrentthemes that havecharacterised this tradition: the contemporaryideal of a harmoniousmulticultural society; the romanticisationof the `old city' as a visual reminderof our `non-capitalist' past andthe utopianismassociated with the dichotomy betweenwork and leisure andbetween the diurnal andthe nocturnal.Most of thesethemes can be found as forming part of the discourseon the national in Cuba,also characterisedby a deeputopianism. The thesisexamines the social and cultural history of Havanain order to analysehow the different documentshave reflected, or evencontributed, to the constructionand problematisationof a Cubannational identity, while at the sametime making testimonyof the existencein the city of different cultural traditions.This hasnecessarily involved a reflection on the dynamics between the two main cultural traditions present in Havana: the Euro-Cuban and the Afro-Cuban. This thesis proposes that the cultural battles between the African, European and North American traditions in the city have been decisive in the modern re- fashioning of Havana as a museum-city, facilitating the predominantly nostalgic character of its most recent representations. This investigation also takes into account the crucial role of the city's spatial gendrification - the position of women within the urban space - when describing Havana's utopian representations. Finally, the interdisciplinarycharacter of this thesiscontributes to the analysesof the cultural history of cities as well as the relevance of the visual in the recreations of modern urban life and its relationsto the narrativesof the national. II Acknowledwnents: This work would not have been possible without the advice and generous support of my Director of Thesis Professor Jon Bird and my Supervisor, Professor Jean Fisher. I am also grateful to Professor Adrian Rifkin for his helpful comments. A million thanks to Dr. Antoni Kapcia, from the Cuban ResearchForum, for introducing me to the University of Havana and facilitating my accessto the archives and libraries in Cuba. Thanks to Guy Baron, also from the Cuban Research Forum, for generously sharing with me his knowledge of Cuban cinema. In Cuba I would like to thank the sub-director of the Cinemateca at the ICAIC (Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Arts and Industry), Mrs Lola Calvin, who introduced me to the Institute and gave me accessto the holdings at the ICAIC Film Archives. Thanks also to Mrs Maria Eulalia Douglas, who gave me some important advice in relation to my investigation. I am immensely grateful to Dr. Edel Fresner, lecturer in Contemporary Cuban History at the University of Havana, who took an interest in my project and gave me some generous advice regarding archives to visit and reading lists I should go through. Thanks to Dr Jose Carlos Vazquez Lopez, Dean of the Faculty of History and Philosophy at the University of Havana, for writing introductory letters in order to access the different archives in the city. At the Fototeca de Cuba, I would like to thank Ms. Lissette Rios for dedicating her time to my investigation and giving me accessto crucial information. Thanks also to Mrs. Josefa Arias, widower of photographer Constantino Arias, for showing to me some of her husbands' work and answering my questions. I am very grateful to Mr. Julio Garcia Espinosa for giving up some of his time and having a very helpful conversation with me regarding his films. Finally, this thesis would not have been possible without the generous help of my partner Mike Podmore who read it in detail, helped me with my grammar and vocabulary, made very helpful comments and, more importantly, has been by my side all along giving me much needed encouragement, moral support and love. III Contents: Introduction -p. 1 ChapterI: Utopian Anachronismsand the ContemporaryNostalgia for the Lost City: Havanain Cinemaand Photography during the `SpecialPeriod' -p. 19 ChapterII: CubanNational Identity. Mestizaje and Abakuä Utopia -p. 43 ChapterIII: Out With The New. In With The Old. Architectureand Nation -p. 69 ChapterIV: Film and Urban Space-p. 105 ChapterV: Nightlife as Heterotopia.The `Roarin Fgifties' -p. 129 ChapterVI: Son. Bolerosand Rumba.On The Definitions Of The `Popular' (Guillermo CabreraInfante and Julio Garcia Espinosa)-p. 162 ChapterVII: The AmericanCity: Havana1933 -p. 196 Conclusions-p. 225 Endnotes-p. 235 Appendix: Interview with Julio GarciaEspinosa -p. 283 List of Illustrations -p. 299 Film Tracks by Chapters(from attachedDVD) -p. 304 BibliograaphTy.-p. 305 IV Introduction When in 1999 the documentary Buena Vista Social Club by Wim Wenders was released, I rushed to the cinema in anticipation. Throughout the 1990s, the European media had been already showing images from Havana, making of its `otherness' a familiar cliche: a city that had experienced a very different development to the others in the `capitalist block' and now left in supposed isolation. However, this film was advertised as offering something else: it was the cinematographic account of a group of musicians who, during the years preceding the 1959 Revolution, collaborated in the development of a musical tradition now considered very influential to many contemporary music and dance forms, such as salsa or latin-jazz. Those among us who already knew Wenders' filmography expected another nostalgic take on a dying old city, as he had done with Lisbon in Lisbon Story, Tokyo in Tokyo Ga and Berlin in Wings of Desire. However, my own expectations relied also on my previous personal experience with the history of Havana. I was born and grew up in the City of Las Palmas, the biggest city in the Canary Islands. The many cultural connections now existent between Cuba and Canary Islands were the result of emigration waves since the beginning of the Spanish colonisation of both places, that had seen thousands of Canarians moved, in most casespermanently, to Cuba, fleeing poverty and isolation'. This emigration greatly intensified during the second half of the nineteenth century due to the `whitening' policies then practised