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January

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Venue:FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Green Library, Room 220

In this lecture, Ariel Pérez Lazo will examine the influence of the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset in Cuba. His influence was especially visible during the 1940s, when Cuban authors often reflected on the crisis of values on the island as well as other parts of the world.

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Venue:Graham Center (GC), Room 150

Dr. Carmelo Mesa-Lago will review Cuba's recent economic performance, with respect to growth, gross capital formation, financial stability, and the performance of agriculture, manufacturing, mining, tourism, and the external sector. The lecture will document the island's current economic crisis and its similarities with the severe crisis of the 1990s.

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Venue:Green Library, Room 220

The expansion of access to digital technology and the Internet has opened in Cuban graphic humor a terrain for the proliferation and articulation of a community of creators who put their art and creativity at the service of the most pressing discussions of today's Cuban society. This exhibition seeks to make visible the work done by Cuban graphic humorists and denounce the persecution they suffer on the island.

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Venue:Frost Art Museum, 10975 SW 17th St, Miami, FL 33199

In conjunction with the ongoing exhibition at the Wolfsonian-FIU, "Turn the Beat Around," this panel will highlight the lasting contribution of Afro-Cuban genres like rumba, mambo, and cha-cha-chá on U.S. music and dance. Even in the 1960s, Afro-Cuban musical influences remained strong in the United States through the development of salsa and Latin jazz.

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Venue:Books and Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables, FL

After the 1959 Cuban Revolution, hundreds of thousands of Cuban refugees came to Miami. With this influx, the city's health care system was overwhelmed not just by the number of patients but also by the differences in culture. In this book, Dr. Catherine Mas shows how immigrants reshaped American medicine while the clinic became a crucial site for navigating questions of wellness, citizenship, and culture.

February

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Venue:Virtual Event on Zoom

In the fourth installment of this series, Dr. Alejandro Portes and Ryan Bagwell analyze the current wave of Cuban migrants, the largest since 1959. The authors conclude that Cuban migration is likely to continue indefinitely into the future, given the strong family and economic ties between Cuba and South Florida, as well as the generalized poverty and political repression on the Island.

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Venue:American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora, 1200 Coral Way, Miami

Eduardo Palmer is the most iconic producer of Cuban exile cinema. In 1963, he co-produced the feature documentary "Cuba, satélite 13," the title referring to Cuba's conversion into the Soviet Union's newest pawn. The Cuban Diaspora Film Archive (CDfA) will screen the film and present an award to Palmer in recognition of his contributions to Cuban cinema, both inside and outside the island.

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Venue:FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Paul Cejas Architecture (PCA) 254

This talk by Dr. Kari Soriano will focus on a collection of articles representing national characters and professions in Cuba, accompanied by lithographs and engravings. The lecture will discuss how the portraits engaged in an international network of influences, collaborations, and borrowings.

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Venue:Books and Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables, FL

In this book, Dr. Lillian Guerra has undertaken one of the most authoritative investigations of the national security system that Fidel Castro put in place to control nearly all aspects of the social and political life of Cuban citizens who did not or could not leave for exile abroad.

March

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Venue:Virtual Event on Zoom

Thanks to President John F. Kennedy's tape recordings, the Cuban Missile Crisis provides researchers an exceptional laboratory for testing various theories on the defender's policy choices after deterrence failure. This virtual lecture by Dr. Félix E. Martín examines the deliberation process of key members of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (ExComm) during the Cuban Missile Crisis (October 15-29, 1962).

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Venue:Books and Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables, FL

Certain formerly peripheral and secondary cities have been growing in significance, emerging as regional global cities in their own right. This book by Drs. Alejandro Portes and Ariel Armony traces the transformation of Dubai, Miami, and Singapore from very peripheral urban places to their present role in the world economy, identifying the common features that they share as well as their differences.

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Venue:Books and Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables, FL

Since the publication of her first book of poems, Iraida Iturralde has contributed an unmistakable voice to Cuban poetry. In this, her seventh book, she strengthens the presence and singularity of that voice. "Preso el antílope" ("The Captive Antelope") moves between two poles: sociability and reflection.

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Venue:FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Graham Center, Room 140

In 1971, Cuban state security agents arrested the poet Heberto Padilla, accused of being a counterrevolutionary. Faced with international pressure, the Cuban government forced him to incriminate himself in front of the Union of Cuban Writers and Artists. This documentary, directed by Pavel Giroud, recuperates filmed footage, buried in a Cuban governmental archive for fifty years, of Padilla's recanting.

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Venue:FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Green Library (GL), Room 220

This panel discussion will gather literary critics working on Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic, and their diasporas. They will reflect upon the multipe intersections among nation, race, and gender in contemporary writing from the Hispanic Caribbean.

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Venue:Books and Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables, FL

Edited by Drs. Carmen Haydée Rivera and Jorge Duany, this volume is the first systematic comparative study of Cuba and Puerto Rico from both a historical and contemporary perspective. In these essays, contributors highlight the interconnectedness of the two archipelagos in social categories such as nation, race, class, and gender to encourage a more nuanced and multifaceted study of the relationships between the islands and their diasporas.

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Venue:Virtual Event on Zoom

In this briefing, energy industry expert Jorge R. Piñón documents the multiple challenges faced by Cuba's National Electric System (SEN), including an obsolete and collapsing infrastructure, as well as the lack of maintenance capital and the high contaminating effects of its current operation. Piñón advocates a decentralized model of planning to rebuild Cuba's electrical system.

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Venue:FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Graham Center, Room 150

Directed by Hilda Hidalgo Xirinachs, the documentary "Two Homelands" or "Dos Patrias" unveils the stories of Aymara, Eduardo, and Xiomara, three activists and political prisoners who have suffered repression by the Cuban government for promoting and defending human rights. They have been imprisoned for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and peaceful marching.

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Venue:FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Graham Center, Room 243

In this talk, Ruth Behar will weave together exilic themes and her Cuban and Sephardic heritages. Dr. Behar has written extensively about her Jewish-Cuban family of Sephardic Turkish and Ashkenazi Polish and Russian ancestry.

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Venue:FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Green Library (GL), Room 220

Experts on the revolutionary experiences of Cuba and Venezuela will compare and contrast how they produced massive population displacements as a result of radical social transformations. In both countries, a fundamental break with the past generated oppposition from substantial sectors of the population, many of whom ended up in exile. Despite the ongoing exodus from the two countries, most of the opposition has remained in Venezuela, whereas it has largely been expelled from Cuba.

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Venue:Books and Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables, FL

This book compares the sociopolitical processes behind two major revolutions—Cuba in 1959, when Fidel Castro came to power, and Venezuela in 1999, when Hugo Chávez won the presidential election. With special attention to the Cuba-Venezuela alliance, particularly in regards to foreign policy and the trade of doctors for oil, Drs. Silvia Pedraza and Carlos Romero show that the geopolitical theater where these events played out determined the dynamics and reach of the revolutions.

April

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Venue:Books and Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables, FL

Dr. John Gronbeck-Tedesco's book explores the undertaking sponsored by the Miami Catholic Diocese, federal and state offices, child welfare agencies, and anti-Castro Cubans to bring more than fourteen thousand unaccompanied children to the United States. Using personal interviews and newly unearthed information, "Operation Pedro Pan" provides a deeper understanding of how and why the program was devised.

May

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Venue:FIU Modesto Maidique Campus, LACC Conference Room, DM 353

Hannah Burgé Luviano's research project undertakes a review of Dámaso Pérez Prado's musical work in Mexico City during the years of 1948 until the time of his passing in 1989. The project explores the transnational movements of Mexico City mambo musicians post World War II and their impact on the mambo style of Pérez Prado.

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Venue:FIU Modesto Maidique Campus, LACC Conference Room, DM 353

In this talk, Dr. Pierpaolo Polzonetti addresses two fundamental questions: why do we have such an abundance of gastronomic signs in Cuban songs? And how do gastronomic signs work in conjunction with Cuban music and its distinctive aesthetic values?

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Venue:American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora, 1200 Coral Way, Miami

Written by Remberto Pérez and María Pérez, this book tells the forgotten story of approximately 4,000 Cuban children who migrated to Spain between 1966 and 1974. It is based on the memories of several persons who lived the process in Cuba, those who helped the children in the United States, and those who were close to Father Antonio Camiñas, who received them in Madrid.

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Venue:FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Graham Center, Room 150

A group of experts will examine the origins and development of international communism and its expansion to the Caribbean region, its growing influence in Cuba after 1959, as well as the substantial links between Cuba and the Soviet bloc during the Cold War.

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Venue:FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, DM 353

On March 24, 1956, White city officials celebrated and paraded a man of mixed racial heritage on the segregated streets of Daytona Beach, Florida. It was "Batista Day," in honor of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista Zaldívar. This lecture by Dr. Frank Argote-Freyre explores the cultural and racial intersections and ambiguities that made "Batista Day" possible, including the unique racial history of Daytona Beach and Batista's interactions with city officials dating back to the 1940s.

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Venue:FIU Modesto Maidique Campus, LACC Conference Room, DM 353

Modern journalism was born in Cuba with the Republic, a stage between May 20, 1902, and January 1, 1959. The so-called "Republican press" made a decisive contribution to the history of journalism and its literary and aesthetic character. In this talk, Dr. Salvador Salazar will discuss his book project about the history of the Cuban printed press in the Republic.

June

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Venue:FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Graham Center, Room 150

In the early 20th century, Havana boasted the second largest concentration of Galician immigrants in the world, after Buenos Aires. Later, Galicians continued to migrate and, like Cubans, many settled in the United States, including New York City. In this colloquium, two experts will discuss the deep cultural impact of the Galician exodus to Cuba and the United States, particularly in language, literature, and music.

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Venue:FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Graham Center, Room 140

"The Eternal Night" is the story of three young Cuban men who were condemned for their beliefs and their creations. The film is based on the true story of Cuban writer and former political prisoner Néstor Díaz de Villegas. Directed by Coco Fusco, the film combines a dramatized version of Díaz de Villegas' prison experience with archival footage and print culture from the 1970s, as well as interviews with Díaz de Villegas and his friend, actor and former political prisoner José Manuel Castiñeyra.

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Venue:Virtual Event on Zoom

The number of Cuban-owned businesses in Miami-Dade County rose from 1,764 in 1969 to 160,723 in 2012, the latest year for which survey data are available. In this webinar, two renowned experts will discuss the spectacular growth of Cuban-owned enterprises in Miami and the emergence of one of the most successful economic enclaves in the history of the United States.

July

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Venue:Books and Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables, FL

First published in Cuba in 1954 and appearing now in English for the first time, Lydia Cabrera's "El Monte" is a foundational and iconic study of Afro-Cuban religious and cultural traditions. Dr. David Font-Navarrete's translation of Cabrera’s classic study fills a major gap in works about Afro-Cuban religions available in English.

August

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Venue:FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, College of Law

The Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy (ASCE) will hold its Thirty-Third Annual Meeting at the FIU College of Law, with the support of FIU's Cuban Research Institute. In particular, the 2023 conference will focus on Cuba's current economic problems and the Cuban government's announced responses (reforms).

September

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Venue:FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Graham Center, Room 150

Drs. Sergio Díaz-Briquets and Elaine Acosta González assess the rapid aging of Cuba's population as a result of declining fertility and death rates, as well as massive emigration to the United States and other countries. The authors' critical conclusion is that "existing institutional and social policies designed to serve elderly needs are inadequate and insufficient." They end their essay with several recommendations for urgent public policy changes in Cuba.

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Venue:FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Graham Center, Room 150

The documentary "No hay mal que por bien no venga" ("Good Things Will Come"), directed by Janelle Bosek, tells the story of two Pedro Pan children, Guillermo Vidal and Ric Prado, who came from Cuba to the U.S. in the early 1960s.

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Venue:FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Green Library (GL), Room 220

The Cuban migratory stampede in 2022–23 produced a loss of 3.5% of the island's total population. In this lecture, Drs. Juan Carlos Albizu-Campos Espiñeira and Sergio Díaz-Briquets will examine the staggering statistics on the recent Cuban exodus to the United States, focusing on its implications for the island's labor force and demographic aging.

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Venue:FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Green Library (GL), Room 220

Musicologist, percussionist, and singer Jessy Díaz will share her vision of the legacy of Celia Cruz and the Sonora Matancera, with her style and arrangements that take us on a journey through Cuban music: bolero, chachachá, son, salsa, and tango congo, marked by a jazz sonority, as well as the nostalgia that migration brings with it. In addition to bringing us part of Celia's artistic career, Ms. Díaz will perform a selection of eight songs dedicated to Afro-Cuban saints.

October

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Venue:FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Graham Center, Room 243

The FIU Exile Studies Program and the Department of English continue their lecture series on "Giving Voice to Exile: The Privileges and Burdens of Inheritance." This lecture will be given by Jonathan Plutzik, the principal owner of The Betsy-South Beach hotel.

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Venue:FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Graham Center, Room 150

Directed by Lía Villares, this documentary focuses on anti-Castro punk rock musician Gorki Águila, leader of the iconic band Porno para Ricardo, who has spoken out against censorship and tyranny in Cuba. It forms part of the documentary series "Free Art vs. Totalitarian Censorship."

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Venue:FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Green Library (GL), Room 220

Millions of enslaved Africans were brought to the Americas between the 16th and 19th centuries, including Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. Strong African influences persist in the contemporary cultures of these countries, from language and food to music and religion. This panel discussion will examine recent efforts to preserve the collective memories and historical patrimony of the African presence in the Hispanic Caribbean.

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Venue:Books and Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables, FL

Tracing the flows of people, material items, and digital content between Havana and Miami, as well as between Cuba and Panama, Guyana, and Mexico, "Circulating Culture" explores how and why these circuits are a part of everyday life for millions of Cubans who negotiate extraordinary circumstances daily. Drawing on extensive ethnographic research, Dr. Jennifer Cearns highlights groups of Cuban society that are often overlooked, considering Cuban culture and identity in a transnational setting.

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Venue:FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Green Library (GL), Room 220

How did the Spanish-American War transform the United States and its newly acquired territories? This panel discussion gathers leading scholars to explore the far-reaching implications of the War of 1898 for Cuba as well as for the United States.

November

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Venue:FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Graham Center, Room 150

"Blue Heart" is a science fiction feature film written and directed by Miguel Coyula, which tells the story of individuals genetically altered before birth with the aim of building the "new man" and saving the socialist utopia. Banned in Cuba, the film is about the individual's inability to escape his/her environment and the violent nature of a revolution and its consequences.

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Venue:Books and Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables, FL

In this book, Dr. Marysol Quevedo maps the intellectual and artistic networks Cuban composers forged between 1940 and 1991 by exploring concerts, festivals, and recordings that shed light on how they negotiated aesthetic and political agendas at local and international levels. Beginning with the modernist neoclassicism of the Grupo de Renovación Musical in the 1940s and its Pan Americanist backdrop, the book moves through the more turbulent 1950s and the post-1959 revolutionary period.

December

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Venue:FIU Modesto A. Maidique Campus, Graham Center, Room 150

"Option Zero" is a documentary directed by Marcel Beltrán, a Cuban filmmaker currently living in São Paulo, Brazil. Beltrán documents the journey of a group of Cuban migrants through the Darién Jungle in Panama, as recorded in their mobile phones and transmitted through social networks. This film screening forms part of the INSTAR Film Festival, an annual event organized by the Hannah Arendt Institute of Artivism (INSTAR), founded and directed by the Cuban artist Tania Bruguera.