Assignment for The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics, edited by Aviva Chomsky, Barry Carr & Pamela Maria Smorkaloff.
Below we have provided questions for each of the readings. For each of the readings, provide a short paragraph response to one of the questions given (in some cases there is only one). Select five of these readings/questions to explore more in-depth by writing 250- to 350-word responses.
DUE DATE: June 10, 2015
SECTION V.Building a New Society
How can we understand the Cuban Revolution both within and outside of the terms of the Cold War?
How the Poor Got More. This reading provides a background for understanding the origins of the libreta, although the libreta plays a different role today.
• How were shortages created in the first years after the revolution?
• What was the logic behind the ration book?
• How did the government attempt to enable households to spend more on food and how did this affect rents and the price of social services, and how did this affect the effective distribution of income?
• What mix of factors led the supply of food “lag behind” demand?
• What was the “irony of the food crisis” (p. 349)?
• Was the libreta (“rationing”) intended to be permanent?
Women in the Swamps (note that we will pass through La Cienega de Zapata on our way to Girón)
• How was La Cienega integrated into the nation prior to the triumph of the Revolution?
• What were the socioeconomic conditions of the region at that time and how did they change after the triumph of the Revolution?
• How did women’s lives change after the revolution?
• Who were ‘the mercenaries’?
Man and Socialism
• Who was Che Guevara in the context of the Cuban Revolution?
• What sort of person is ‘the individual’ under the ‘laws of capitalism’?
• How does the ‘new man’ evolve during the transition to socialism?
• How does the understanding of work evolve during the transition to socialism and the ’new man’?
• What does Che Guevara mean when he says that “the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love”?
The Literacy Campaign (we will visit the museum dedicated to this campaign, which is also described in the short video trailer you watched, Maestra)
• What motivated youth to sign up for the campaign?
• What was this volunteer’s experience like?
The “Rehabilitation” of Prostitutes
• What symbolic importance did the elimination of prostitution have for the revolution?
• How did “life in the brothel” change after the revolution?
• How did the “rehabilitation school” function, according to the narrator?
The Family Code
• What was the process of gaining input into and passing the laws of the Family Code? (Note that this is a common process for new legislation)
• What was ‘revolutionary’ and what was ‘traditional’ about the code?
• How did the Code function as an educational tool?
SECTION VI. Culture and Revolution
How did the revolution’s cultural goals extend beyond the roduction of intellectuals, artists, and musicians?
The Virgin of Charity of Cobre, Cuba’s Patron Saint
• Who found the Virgin and how?
• What is the relationship (if there is one) of the Virgin of Cobre to Ochun?
• Is Cuba a Catholic country?
The Catholic Church and the Revolution
• What was the situation of the Catholic Church in Cuba at the time that Cardenal was writing?
• Why was the Church marginalized early after the revolution?
SECTION VII. The Cuban Revolution and the World
How did Cuba’s economic dependence on and political autonomy from the USSR differ?
Operation Mongoose
• What was Operation Mongoose?
Cuban Medical Diplomacy
• What is “medical diplomacy”? How extensive is Cuba’s program?
• How does the US compare?
SECTION VIII. The “Periodo Especial” and the Future of the Revolution
What was the “Special Period in Time of Peace”?
What sorts of policies did Cuba pursue in response to the crisis and how have they challenged capitalism?
How has the role of the state changed?
From Communist Solidarity to Communist Solitary
• What was the Food Program of the Special Period?
• What was the role of rationing and how did it affect daily life? What happened to social services?
• What were the contingents and how did they work?
• How did the role of foreign investment change? Tourism?
• What were the ‘dollar stores’? (note – the dollar no longer circulates in Cuba, so no dollar stores!)
• What “market openings” occurred?
• How did farming change during the Special Period?
• What ‘transportation revolution’ occurred?
The Revolution Turns Forty
• How did US policy towards Cuba change in the 1990s?
• How do ‘typical Cubans’ appear to Landau?
• Why does Landau say that Cuba “has become a nascent class society”?
One More Assassination Plot
• Who is Luis Posada Carriles? Note: You’re likely to see his image on posters and billboards around Havana. He lives in Miami.
NOTE: Remember the dates on these writings – laws, gov’t officials, and economic circumstances have changed!
