Economy and Civil Society in Cuba

September 27, 2013 - 4:00 pm

Room 9206 (The Graduate Center, CUNY)

Expansion of the Religious Media in Contemporary Cuba 
Margaret E. Crahan, Columbia University

Afro-Cuban Cultural Production and the Struggle for a New Public Sphere 
Zoya Kocur, Middlesex University

Cuba’s Agricultural Transformations: Moving towards Market Socialism?
Mario González-Corzo, Lehman College

Perspective on a Changing Cuba 
Mauricio Font, Bildner Center

Carlos Riobó, The City College of New York

To celebrate the publication of the Handbook of Contemporary Cuba: Economy, Politics, Civil Society, and Globalization (Paradigm Press, 2013), this panel features updates on four of the essays included in this handbook. They explore perspectives on economic transformation and civil society formation: religious media, Afro-Cuban artistic production, the agricultural sector, and the evolution of the Cuban socialist economy. How does the religious media since the 1990s impact on public opinions and the growing role of the Catholic Church? What is the comparable role for Afro-Cuban religious and cultural expression? How do Afro-Cuban religious traditions affect the formation of Cuban civil society? While the agricultural sector has been targeted as a vehicle of transformation in Cuba’s gradual transition to market socialism, what are the policies seeking to improve agricultural output and how successful have they been? The last discussion explore patterns of continuity and change in Cuba’s search for a more efficient and modern economy.