Caribbean Studies

Cuba at 50 - One day workshop

You’ve seen the film Che, you know about Fidel Castro and the 1959 Revolution, you love the music and dance salsa, you’ve been to Cuba or are planning to go, and you want to know more about the people, their history and culture, and the politics of a country which for the past 50 years has challenged world orthodoxy.

This day workshop will explore the historical and contemporary internal and external forces that have shaped modern Cuba; aspects of continuity and discontinuity; migration and the political challenge to notions of the nation-state; the complexities and polarization of approaches to understanding Cuba; key features of revolutionary Cuba 1959-89; crisis and adjustment since 1990; and diaspora as well as island politics and culture. Special attention will be paid to race, class, gender and nation, and to music, dance, and religion. The workshop will also be tailored to the particular interests of participants.

Course Tutor Jean Stubbs
Dates Saturday 25 April 2009
Times 10-3pm (with a one-hour lunch break)
Fee £20 Click here to enrol online
Concession Fees* £15 Click here to enrol at the Concessionary Rate

The Shaping of Modern Cuba

This eleven-week course will explore the shaping of contemporary Cuba through its modern history, the antecedents to and aftermath of the Revolution of 1959, present-day politics and economics, society and culture, and consideration of what the future may hold. In doing so, it will critically examine audiovisual representations to explore the relationships between history, politics and culture, with attention to race, class, gender, religion, music and dance.

Emphasis will be placed on the historical and contemporary internal and external forces that have shaped modern Cuba; aspects of cultural continuity and discontuinity; migration and the political challenge to notions of the nation-state; and the complexities and polarization of approaches to understanding Cuban history and contemporary society. After an introductory overview of history, politics and culture, the first part of the course will focus on the pre-1959 period: 19th century Spanish colonial slave society, nationalism and the wars of independence; 20th Century US involvement; the 1912 Race War and West Indian migration; and the Revolutions of 1933 and 1959. The second part of the course will look in depth at the post-1959 period: foreign policy and domestic politics and leadership, the Cuban economy and society 1959-89 and economic crisis and adjustment since 1990, and island and diaspora politics and culture.

Dr Stephen Wilkinson and Emily Morris, of the International Institute for the Study of Cuba (www.londonmet.ac.uk/research-units/cuba/) will also give guest lectures.

This course is also offered as a credit-bearing module on the undergraduate degree programme. For further information please call: 0207 133 4398

Course Tutor Jean Stubbs
Dates 2 February - 27 April 2009
Times Monday 1-3pm
Fee £135 Click here to enrol online
Concession Fees* £95 Click here to enrol at the Concessionary Rate

Professor Jean Stubbs has published widely on Cuba, her specialist interests spanning tobacco, labour, gender and race. Her books include Afro-Cuban Voices: On Race and Identity in Contemporary Cuba (Florida 2000), Cuba (Clio 1996), AFROCUBA: An Anthology of Cuban Writing on Race, Politics and Culture (Ocean 1993), Cuba: the Test of Time (LAB l989), Tobacco on the Periphery: A Case Study in Cuban Labour History, l860-1958 (CUP, l985). She is Director of the Caribbean Studies Centre at London Met (www.londonmet.ac.uk/csc) and co-editor of the International Journal of Cuban Studies (www.londonmet.ac.uk/research-units/cuba/journal/journal_home.cfm)

All classes will be held at the Tower Building, 166-220 Holloway Road, London N7 8DB.

For further information and enrolment and payment forms:

Website: www.londonmet.ac.uk/halshortcourses
Email: halshortcourses@londonmet.ac.uk

*Concession fees apply to London Met and City Lit staff and students as well as anyone qualifying for a concessionary rate, though proof must be shown prior to beginning class.