Course Title: Special topics: (3 credits)

Transcription

1 Course Title: Special topics: (3 credits) Modern Cuba: Perspectives on Socio-Economic Development, Community Building and Cultural Adaptation in the New Global Context: This course provides an intensive introduction to Cuba and unique social, economic, cultural and political situation.. The emphasis in this course in on hearing the perspective of Cubans (professors, historians, students, architects, local artists, and others) and seeing/ experiences of contemporary Cuba and its revolution through varied field trips to restored old Havana, museums and historical sites, community based organizations, schools, local historian and organic urban farms. You ll get to experience Havana, fascinating city with a unique architectural heritage recognized by UNESCO, also known for its vibrant social and cultural life. This course will provide a social and global overview of the Cuban Revolution as defined, described and analyzed from comparative perspectives in community development., This course will give you unique insights into Cuba before, during, and after the revolution. Some of the lectures are delivered by senior scholars from the University of Havana. The lectures provide a Cuban, insider perspective and there are plenty of opportunities for discussions and questions. Field trips take place almost every day and provide concrete illustrations of the topics discussed in the lectures, such as Cuban history and revolution, its government and civil society, Judicial system, Jose Marti: humanism and values, urban life and community development;, Women and Cuban society, Afro-Cuban traditions, education, children and families, Cuba today: contemporary social, political and economic transformations. Field trips take place almost every afternoon and provide opportunities to connect lectures to various museums and other sited of interest to the day s topic of interest-example of fields trips: Old and modern Havana, Museum of the Revolution, Museum of Afro-Cuban Religion, The Hemingway farm and museum, urban farms and markets, Higher institute of arts, plantations and cooperatives in Cienfuegos and Trinidad, two major cities outside of Havana. Special topics: Modern Cuba: Will be of interest to all graduate and undergraduate students majoring in Public administration, business, law, sociology, psychology, urban studies, religion, political science, art, health, international and women/ethnic studies and other disciplines. The prerequisite for Special Topics: Modern Cuba: Knowledge of the Spanish language is NOT required. Graduate or undergraduate Students with fewer than 12 credits may be admitted with departmental permission. This course will be of interest not only to Public Administration, but also to students in business, law, International Studies, Political Studies, History and other disciplines.

2 Course requirements: Text: Books to read: Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Oxford, On first inspection, the book seems accessible to graduate and undergraduates and fairly balanced, albeit from a North American perspective. It is structured in a question & response format which betrays the journalistic underpinnings of the approach, and political (or politicized). Chomsky, Aviva, Barry Carr, and Pamela Maria Snorkaloff. Eds. The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics. Durham: Duke University, Expectations: The following are requirements for students taking this course: Attend all required pre-departure orientation sessions and satisfactorily meet all university risk and responsibility requirements prior to departure Attend all lectures, field trips and tutorial discussion Complete the assigned readings program for the course Maintain a daily reflective journal Complete two short assignments while in Cuba Submit a final course paper on a specific area of research and interest Assessment: Assignment Value Due Date Course paper 40% 2 weeks after return Reflective Journal 30% 2 weeks after return Short essay 15% Short essay 15%

3 Modern Cuba: Perspectives on Socio-Economic Development, Community Building and Cultural Adaptation in the New Global Context Required Reading: Syllabus Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Oxford, 2009 Chomsky, Aviva, Barry Carr, & Pamela Maria Smorkaloff. The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics, Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2004 Recommended Articles: Louis A. Pérez, Jr., Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, Chap. 6 ( Between Wars ); José Martí, The Revolutionary Party in Cuba Carmelo Mesa-Lago, Three Decades of Studies on the Cuban Revolution: Progress, Problems and the Future, in Damian J. Fernandez, ed., Cuban Studies Since the Revolution (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1992), pp Luis A. Perez, Jr. Fear and Loathing of Fidel Castro: Sources of U.S. Policy Towards Cuba, Journal of Latin American Studies, Vol. 34, No. 2 (May 2002), pp Hugh Thomas, Cuba or the Pursuit of Freedom. N.Y.: Da Capo Press, 1998, Jules R. Benjamin, Interpreting the U.S. Reaction to the Cuban Revolution, , Carmelo Mesa-Lago, ed., Cuban Studies. University of Pittsburg, 1989, Bornstein, Morris, "The Comparison of Economic Systems" in Morris Bornstein (ed.) Comparative Economic Systems: Models and Cases, 6th ed. Richard D. Irwin, Inc., Mesa-Lago, Carmelo, The Economy of Socialist Cuba: A Two-Decade Appraisal. University of New Mexico Press, 1981, pp Race, Ideology, and Culture in Cuba: Recent Scholarship," Latin American Research Review, 2000 Recommended Books: Jose Marti, Deborah Shnookal (Editor), Mirta Muniz. Jose Marti Reader : Writings on the America. Ocean Press, Perez-Stable. The Cuban Revolution: Origins, Course and Legacy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

4 Anthony De Palma, The Man Who Invented Fidel: Castro, Cuba, and Herbert L. Mathews of the New York Times. New York: Public Affairs, Ana Julia Jatar-Hausman, The Cuban Way: Capitalism, Communism, and Confrontation. New York: Kumarian Press, Pérez, Louis A., Jr. On Becoming Cuban: Identity, Nationality & Culture. New York: Ecco Press, Gott, Richard. Cuba: A New History. New Haven: Yale University Press, Maybarduk, Gary H., "The Post Fidel Transition: Mitigating the Inevitable Disaster, Cuba in Transition: Volume 11, Papers and Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy (ASCE), Miami, Florida, August, Mesa-Lago, Carmello, "The Cuban Economy The Cuban Economy Today: Salvation of Damnation?" Prepared for the Cuba Transition Project (CTP) Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, University of Miami, Neuberger, Egon, "Classifying Economic Systems," in Morris Bornstein (ed.) Comparative Economic Systems: Models and Cases, 6th ed. Richard D. Irwin, Inc., Purcell, Susan Kaufman, and David Rothkopf (eds), Cuba: The Contours of Change, Lynne Rienner Publishers, Chapters 1-4. Travieso-Diaz, Matias, "Cuba: A Change in the Wind?" Manuscript, Angelo Trento, Castro and Cuba: From the Revolution to the Present (2000) Jutta Weldes, Constructing National Interests: The United States and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, Levine, Secret Missions to Cuba: Fidel Castro, Bernardo Benes and Cuban Miami. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, Michele Zebich-Knos and Heather N. Nicol, eds., Foreign Policy toward Cuba: Isolation or Engagement? New York: Lexington, Read and Smith, Lois M., and Alfred Padula, eds. Sex and revolution: Women in socialist Cuba. New York: Oxford university Press, Maria De Los Reyes Castillo Bueno, Reyita. The Life of a Black Cuban Woman in the Twentieth Century. North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2000.

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