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News
| Jan (2) | Feb (3) | Mar (7) | Apr (6) | May (4) | Jun (5) | Jul (4) | Aug (8) | Sep (6) | Oct (7) | Nov (2) | Dec (4) |
January
Final Program | Thirteenth Conference on Cuban and Cuban-American Studies
The final version of the program for our virtual conference on "Cuba before and after J11," to be held on February 3–4, 2022, is available here. To register for the conference, please visit https://criconference.eventbrite.com/
Catholics and Communists: Rethinking Religion in Revolutionary Cuba
Former CRI Visiting Scholar Petra Kuivala will lecture on Cuban Catholics as social subjects inhabiting the revolutionary and, later, socialist society in post-1959 Cuba. Drawing on an extensive amount of previously unstudied Cuban archival sources, the lecture will explore the ways in which religious Cubans navigated their social identities and roles in the officially atheist and antireligious environment.
February
Former Visiting Scholar Earns Ph.D. in Social Sciences
We're happy to share the news that Yarimis Méndez Pupo has successfully defended her doctoral dissertation on recent Cuban migration to Miami at the University of Guadalajara in Mexico. Yarimis was appointed a Visiting Scholar at FIU's Cuban Research Institute during the summer of 2020, but could not travel to Miami because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Debate with DeSantis over Unaccompanied Minors Divides Pedro Pan Cubans
The Cuban children who came through Operation Pedro Pan (1959–62) were taken in by foster families, shelters, and relatives in Miami and elsewhere in the United States. While the children were a small slice of the first post-revolution migrant wave to the U.S., their impact in public life was outsized, according to Jorge Duany, director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University.
Cuba's N15: The March That Never Was
On Monday, November 15, 2021 (N15), a Facebook group of more than 31,000 young Cuban artists and other critics of the Cuban government named Archipiélago (“Archipelago”) called for a “Civic March for Change” on the island. The Cuban government, however, mobilized all the resources at its disposal to quell the demonstration, including threatening the protesters with accusations of sedition and restricting their public movements.
March
CRI in the News | Cuba Seeks to Distribute Social Responsibilities to Its Citizens
In a video interview with Mega TV, CRI Visiting Scholar Elaine Acosta discusses the aging of the Cuban population, as well as recent changes in public policies toward older citizens on the island.
CRI in the News | Uva de Aragón Presents Her Memoirs of Her Childhood in Havana
Since she started her Internet blog in 2020, the writer and journalist Uva de Aragón declared herself: "I Am a Habanera." Now, in her memoirs, that pride in being Cuban transpires, despite having lived most of her life in the United States.
CRI Welcomes New Faculty Affiliate Dr. Qing Lai
Dr. Lai is Associate Professor of Sociology in the Department of Global and Sociocultural Studies at FIU. He has served as Co-Principal Investigator of the FIU Cuba Poll since 2020. He is currently working (with Dr Guillermo J. Grenier) on a book manuscript titled "Outliers: Political Incorporation of Cuban Americans in South Florida."
Forthcoming Art Exhibition and Edited Volume on Cuban Landscapes
Curated by Dr. Amy Galpin, the new art exhibition, "In the Mind's Eye: Cuban Landscapes," will open at the Frost Art Museum on September 17, 2022, and run until January 8, 2023. An accompanying English/Spanish bilingual volume will explore Cuban and U.S. landscape painters largely active from 1850 to 1910 whose portrayals of Cuba reflect political, social, and ideological changes in both countries.
CRI in the News | Cubans Frantic to Migrate as Economy Falters, New Hurdles Arise
The number of Cubans apprehended at the U.S.-Mexico border soared to 16,531 in February, the highest single-month total on record, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. The United States is undertaking a regional effort with Mexico, Central American countries, and others to stem rising numbers of attempted border crossings, including by Cubans, the Biden administration has said.
CRI in the News | The Decomposition of Cuba's Communist Regime
Sebastián Arcos, associate director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University, calls the July 11, 2021 protest "by far the most important, largest... most widespread, and... openly political" protests in communist Cuba. He points to the protests last summer as evidence that the internet is eroding the state's power. It allowed the July protests to spread farther than has ever been seen under the communist regime, which he says is slowly but surely crumbling.
CRI in the News | The United States Resumes Its Visa Service in Cuba
The United States consulate in Cuba will begin issuing visas on a limited and gradual basis. "It does not normalize relations between the two countries, but it is a step in that direction," Jorge Duany, director of FIU's Cuban Research Institute, told RFI. "The measure is widely supported in the United States by both the Democratic and Republican parties. Above all, it is approved by members of the Cuban community in Miami who have relatives on the island."
April
Announcing the Recipients of the 2022 Díaz-Ayala Library Travel Grants
The Cuban Research Institute, the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center, and the FIU Libraries are pleased to announce the winners of this year's competition.
Crossing Latinidades Fellowships Announced
Congratulations to FIU graduate students Johnny Irizarry Rojas (History) and Elisa Rómulo Borges (Global & Sociocultural Studies) on being selected to attend the 2022 Summer Institute in Latino Humanities at the University of Illinois at Chicago! The institute brings together thirty-two second and third-year pre-dissertation doctoral students pursuing Ph.D.'s in the humanities and humanistic social sciences in sixteen universities who plan to work on Latino Studies dissertations.
The Search for Connection: Cuban-American Ties to the Island in Challenging Times
In our third "Briefing on Cuba," Ruth Behar examines the renewed but difficult ties between Cubans on and off the island during the coronavirus pandemic. As Dr. Behar writes, "the pandemic, bringing together Cubans 'here' and 'there' in virtual space, encouraged greater fluidity between Cubans on the island and in the diaspora."
CRI in the News | More Cubans Immigrating to the US by Crossing from Mexico
Jorge Duany, director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University, and other experts estimate the number of Cubans leaving could exceed other mass migrations from the island, including the Mariel boatlift of 1980, when more than 124,700 Cubans came to the U.S. "There are several intertwined factors that have produced a perfect storm for the intensification of the Cuban exodus," Duany said.
FIU News | 305's First Ever Poet Laureate Is Alumnus, Professor Richard Blanco
The author, who grew up in Westchester as the son of Cuban exiles, earned two degrees from FIU. After moving back to Miami from Maine, Richard Blanco became an associate professor of creative writing at FIU.
CRI Faculty Affiliate Publishes Essay on Role of Miami in Medical Anthropology
History Professor Catherine Mas locates the historical context of the incorporation of culture into medical practice through a case study of Miami in the 1970s. She focuses on the work of medical anthropologist Hazel Weidman and her research on a seizure-like condition Miami residents called "falling-out." It was characterized by sudden collapse in situations of stress, followed by a state of semiconsciousness.
May
Former Visiting Scholar Finishes Ph.D.
We're happy to share the news that Nelson Jaime Santana has successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation in sociology on skilled Cuban migrants to Chile at the Alberto Hurtado University in Santiago. Dr. Jaime Santana was a Visiting Scholar at CRI during the fall of 2018.
ASCE Call for Papers
The Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy (ASCE) will hold its Thirty-Second Annual Meeting at the FIU College of Law on September 15–17, 2022. The main theme is "Cuba—What Is Happening? Plus, Cuba and the Environment."
CRI in the News | Biden Faces the Largest Irregular Migration of Cubans in History
"It's clear that the U.S. government is trying to slow down the irregular migratory movement from Cuba (and other Latin American countries) to mitigate the migrant crisis in its southern border," said to CiberCuba Jorge Duany, professor and director of the Cuban Research Institue at FIU.
CRI Awarded Research Grant to Study Latino Identities
The Crossing Latinidades Humanities Research Initiative, funded by an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant, has approved the collaborative research project, "Forging Panethnic Allegiances: Hispanic Caribbean Communities in Three Gateway Cities—Miami, New York, and Orlando." The project will involve faculty members affiliated with Florida International University, the City University of New York, and the University of Central Florida.
June
CRI Director Will Participate in Panel on Anniversary of J11
The Cuba Program of Sergio Arboleda University and Fundación 4Métrica in Colombia have invited Dr. Jorge Duany to discuss the implications of the massive street protests in Cuba on July 11, 2021. The virtual event will feature several activists and journalists who participated in the protests.
The Cuban Diaspora Film Archive
We're happy to announce the launching of the prototype for the Cuban Diaspora Film Archive (CDfA), codirected by Dr. Santiago Juan-Navarro and Eliecer Jiménez Almeida (Department of Modern Languages). The archive will offer a unique digital repository to facilitate, document, and preserve this important part of this diasporic cultural heritage.
FIU News | John F. Stack Jr., Founding Dean of SIPA, Has Passed Away
We're saddened to share the news of the passing of Dr. John Stack, the founding dean of the FIU Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs. Dr. Stack was a staunch supporter of Cuban and Cuban-American studies.
CRI Hosts New Visiting Scholar from Spain
Dr. Trinidad L. Vicente is an expert on international migration, particularly in connection with gender and human rights. She will conduct research on the chains of transnational care among Cuban migrants to Spain and the United States.
Former Visiting Scholar Defends Ph.D. Dissertation
Congratulations to Estíbaliz Santamaría Cadaval on completing her Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid! Dr. Santamaría Cadaval was a Visiting Scholar at CRI during Spring 2018.
July
Forthcoming—Cuba and Puerto Rico: Transdisciplinary Approaches to History, Literature, and Culture
A collection of essays on the relationship between Cuba and Puerto Rico, edited by Carmen Haydée Rivera and Jorge Duany, will be on the shelves in February 2023 (University Press of Florida). This volume is the first systematic comparative study of Cuba and Puerto Rico from both a historical and contemporary perspective.
An Interview with Jorge Duany
Sergio Angel of Sergio Arboleda University in Bogotá, Colombia, talks to Jorge Duany about the Cuban diaspora to the United States.
Call for Applications | 2022 Research Stays
The Cuba Program of Sergio Arboleda University in Bogotá, Colombia, is requesting applications for short-term academic exchange from graduate students, professors, or researchers interested in Cuban studies.
CRI in the News | The Cuban Government Has Used Migration as a Weapon of Negotiation with the U.S.
Since the popular protests of July 11, 2021, Cuba has experienced the worst migratory crisis in its history. Cubanet interviews CRI Director Jorge Duany to understand the interests at play between the two governments and their impact in Miami.
August
Former Visiting Scholar Publishes Essay on Media Representations of the Mariel Exodus
Jenny Macías Chaveco, a Ph.D. candidate at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, analyzes some of the photographs that appeared in the “Granma” newspaper during the Mariel crisis in 1980, and their uses in the characterization and negative institution of the Cuban migrant. She argues that "the representation of the [Mariel] migrant was [primarily] aimed at counteracting the media effects of migration and its possible impact on tarnishing the image projected by the Cuban Revolution."
CRI in the News | Cubans Head to the U.S. in Record Numbers
The exodus "reflects the desperation, the lack of hope, and the lack of future people on the island feel," said Jorge Duany, head of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University to the Wall Street Journal.
Program of the Annual Conference of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy (ASCE)
ASCE will meet at FIU's College of Law on September 15–17, 2022, under the general theme of "Cuba—What Is Happening? Plus, Cuba and the Environment." For the Thirty-Second Annual Meeting of the Association, the ASCE Board has opened the agenda to papers on all aspects of the Cuban economy and the social/economic system.
Visiting Scholar Will Document Galician Identity in Cuba and Miami
Dr. Estíbaliz Santamaría Cadaval will conduct a year-long study of the historical archives of the Casa de Santa Marta de Ortigueira en Miami, a mutual aid society established by descendants of Galician immigrants in Havana in 1928 and reestablished in Miami in 1972.
FIU in the News | FIU’s Frost Art Museum Announces Forthcoming Exhibition on Cuban Landscapes
"In the Mind's Eye: Landscapes of Cuba" is a groundbreaking exhibition that assembles 19th and 21st century works by U.S. and Cuban artists to explore race, colonialism, nationalism, and the intertwined dynamics of the two nations. The exhibition will feature more than fifty works from distinguished institutions and private collections throughout the United States.
Visiting Scholar Will Study New Song Movement
Kimiko Nicole LeNeave, a Ph.D. candidate in History at the University of California, San Diego, will conduct archival research on the New Song Movement in Cuba and Chile.
CRI in the News | How Will the New Cuban Migrant Flow Impact Hialeah?
"There's an extraordinary number of Cubans who are migrating to the United States, and most are coming to Miami and Hialeah," said Jorge Duany, director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University (FIU). For Duany, the economic, political, and health crisis that Cuba is undergoing has created a "perfect storm," forcing thousands of people to migrate to the U.S.
CRI in the News | The Revolutionary Roots of Cuba's Famed Ice Cream Parlor
Cuban Americans who fondly remember Coppelia don’t think about the peeling paint or the long queues. "Ice cream connects Cubans, past and present," Sebastián A. Arcos, Florida International University's Cuban Research Institute associate director, explains.
September
CRI in the News | Cuba: A Predictable Exodus
"This new route is longer, more expensive, and more complicated, but at least they have a higher probability of entering the United States, which does not seem to happen with the sea route between Florida and Cuba," said Jorge Duany, director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University.
The Cuban Diaspora Film Archive
The Cuban Research Institute is pleased to cosponsor with FIU's Department of Modern Languages a new open-access web portal created to increase our understanding of Cuban cinema production beyond Cuba’s borders and to preserve the stories of Cuban exile filmmakers. This project will offer a unique digital repository that will facilitate, document, and preserve this important part of the cultural heritage of the Cuban diaspora.
Opening Celebration and Panel Discussion | In the Mind's Eye: Landscapes of Cuba
The Patricia & Philip Frost Art Museum invites you to its fall exhibition and opening celebration, with three Cuban American artists featured in the exhibition—Juana Valdés, Emilio Pérez, and Lilian García-Roig—, moderated by Chief Curator Amy Galpin.
CRI in the News | "Everyone Started Leaving": The New Cuban Exodus
León Krauze of Univision Reporta interviews CRI Director Jorge Duany on the recent upsurge of Cuban migrants trying to cross the Mexican border into the United States.
Ph.D. Student Publishes Article on Japanese and Okinawan Immigrants in Cuba
Elisa Rómulo Borges, who is pursuing her Ph.D. at FIU's Department of Global and Sociocultural Studies, has authored an article in the latest issue of the Japan Studies Review, devoted to interdisciplinary studies of modern Japan. Elisa's contribution examines the impact of Japanese and Okinawan descendants on Cuban culture, particularly through the celebration of the Obon Festival to honor their ancestors in Isla de Pinos.
CRI in the News | More Cuban Kids Are Showing Up at the U.S.-Mexico Border without Their Parents
"The increase in the number of children and adolescents among Cuban migrants suggests an intensification of the desperation felt by many families residing on the island," said Jorge Duany, director at Florida International University’s Cuban Research Institute, "and that they do not find another way out of the crisis that the country is experiencing than to leave it in search for better life opportunities for the youngest."
October
New Course on José Martí and Cuban Émigré Communities
During the spring semester of 2023, students enrolled in the FIU Honors Program will have the opportunity to learn more about José Martí's relationship to the Cuban diaspora in the 19th century. Taught by Dr. Jorge Duany, the seminar will provide an overview of Martí's thought about national identity, race, and class within the context of Cuban migration to the United States, especially New York, Key West, and Tampa.
Welcome to Our Newest CRI Faculty Affiliate, Dr. Amy Galpin!
Dr. Galpin is the Chief Curator at the Frost Art Museum. She is an expert on Latin American art, especially from Mexico and Cuba, and teaches courses in modern and contemporary art.
Most Cuban Americans Disapprove of Biden on the Issues, but New Arrivals Like Him, Poll Finds
NBC News reports on the 2022 FIU Cuba Poll, which found that around 64% of respondents said they would vote for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Marco Rubio, both Republicans. "Newer arrivals have a more liberal way of looking at social needs," said Guillermo Grenier, the survey's lead investigator and a professor of sociology at FIU.
FIU in the News | President Biden Receives Poor Marks from Cuban American Voters
The 2022 FIU Cuba Poll, the longest running survey of Cuban American voters in the country, shows the Republican Party remains the party of preference among voters of Cuban descent in South Florida, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio expected to receive about 64% of the Cuban American vote in the midterm election in November. Additionally, 37% of Cuban Americans surveyed would like to see former President Donald Trump back on the ballot in 2024.
CRI in the News | A Digital Archive in the Diaspora Will Preserve Cuban Cinema
Classics of Cuban exile cinema will be collected in the Cuban Diaspora Film Archive, a project codirected by academic Santiago Juan-Navarro and filmmaker Eliecer Jiménez Almeida. This initiative seeks to organize in the public repository the formidable creative production of the filmmakers who left the Island in recent decades, and whose work addresses the issues of alienation, politics, resistance and Cuban history from 1959.
Announcing the Winner of the 2022–23 José Antonio Echeverría Scholarship
The Cuban Research Institute is pleased to announce that this year's recipient is Joseph Ta, who is pursuing a master's degree in Forensic Science at FIU.
Community Advisory Board Member Earns Ph.D.
Congratulations to Erich de la Fuente on completing his Ph.D. in Governance and Policy Analysis at Maastricht University in the Netherlands!
November
Call for Applications | Eliana Rivero Scholarship in Cuban Studies
FIU's Cuban Research Institute (CRI) is pleased to provide support for FIU faculty and graduate students to present papers at academic conferences related to Cuba and its diaspora. The Eliana Rivero Scholarship in Cuban Studies will help to cover up to $500 per person to offset the costs of airfare, lodging, and meals to participate in a professional meeting. Award recipients must complete their travel by June 30, 2023.
New Online Course on Caribbean Literature
Dr. Jeniffer Fernández (Department of Modern Languages) will teach this course during the spring of 2023. The class will survey Caribbean literature from early post-Columbian texts, such as slave narratives and travel writing, to modern Caribbean poetry and prose. This course aims to define the "Caribbean identity” while studying the Hispanophone, Anglophone, and Francophone legacies.
December
Dr. Frank Mora Confirmed as U.S. Ambassador to OAS
We're happy to share the news that the Senate confirmed Dr. Mora as Permanent Representative of the United States to the Organization of American States. Dr. Mora is the former director of the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center and a CRI Faculty Affiliate.
Call for Applications | Crossing Latinidades Humanities Research Initiative
We invite applications from pre-candidacy doctoral students at FIU for the in-person Summer Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a two-week intensive training on comparative Latino Humanities Studies research methodologies and theoretical frameworks to be held on June 17-25, 2023. This is an all-expense-paid program with the possibility of a one-year pre-doctoral research fellowship as an extra year of funding to any existing assistantship/fellowship funding commitment.
SIPA News | CRI Awarded Mellon Grant to Study Latino Identities
The Crossing Latinidades Humanities Research Initiative, funded by an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant, has approved the collaborative research project "Forging Panethnic Allegiances: Hispanic Caribbean Communities in Three Gateway Cities—Miami, New York, and Orlando." The project will involve faculty and students at FIU's Cuban Research Institute, the Dominican Studies Institute at the City University of New York, and the Puerto Rico Research Hub at the University of Central Florida.
FIU News | Update on Book Presentation by Susan Eckstein
President Kenneth A. Jessell shared an update about recent events related to a book presentation sponsored by CRI, which will now feature an additional voice and a new location.
