News
Jan (3) | Feb (5) | Mar (7) | Apr (6) | May (4) | Jun (4) | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
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.
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 26-July 10, 2022. 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.
February
Announcing the Winner of the 2021–22 José Antonio Echeverría Scholarship
The Cuban Research Institute is pleased to announce that this year's recipient is Monica Arredondo, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in International Crime and Justice at FIU.
Call for Applications | 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 request applications from scholars and graduate students for the summer of 2022. The Díaz-Ayala Library Travel Grants provide the opportunity to conduct research in the special collections and archives related to Cuba and Cuban Americans at the FIU Libraries.
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
The Cuban Diaspora Film Archive
We're happy to announce the launching of the prototype for the Cuban Diaspora Film Archive (CDfA), directed by Dr. Santiago Juan-Navarro (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.