CUBA AT A CROSSROADS 

An Interdisciplinary Symposium on Contemporary Cuba

Call for Submissions [Now Closed]

SUNY-Geneseo
April 20–21, 2017

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The Geneseo Consortium on Latin American Studies is pleased to invite abstract submissions for Cuba at a Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Symposium on Contemporary Cuba, a SUNY Conversation in the Disciplines, on April 20–21, 2017.

Since the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba in 2015, the academic world has a reinvigorated interest in Cuban studies across the disciplines.Scholars and policymakers also expect the 54-year-old trade embargo on Cuba to be lifted in the near future, further impacting the Cuban state and its people. Simultaneously with opening relations with the United States, Cuba is taking steps toward integrating international foreign investment into Cuba’s socialist economy.

Cuba now finds itself at a crossroads, navigating the intricate and multi-faceted transition between a “closed” past and an “open” future. The immediate, high-level impacts of these policy changes are receiving substantial critical attention. Less discussed are the ramifications of these political and economic shifts on daily life, cultural and religious traditions, artistic production, civil society, and professional domains including medicine, journalism, and education.

In Cuba at a Crossroads, we seek to promote a wide-ranging, cross-disciplinary conversation about the paths Cuba will confront in the near future, and the potential economic, political, social, and cultural impact that those choices will make in the daily lives of the Cuban people and their new global partners.

On the 55th anniversary of the trade embargo between the United States and Cuba, we invite a broad range of papers exploring 20th- and 21st-century Cuban realities from across all disciplines. Themes and topics might include, but are not limited to:

• African diaspora in Cuba
• Continuity and change in Cuban identity
• Documentary and artistic film and photography
• Emerging educational initiatives
• Entrepreneurship and the state in tourism
• Ethnographic perspectives on contemporary life
• Evolution of the Cuban state and state-society relations
• Health and health systems
• International relations and foreign policy
• Political economy of Cuban development
• Race, racism, and Cuba’s racial democracy
• Social justice
• Sustainability
• Transnationalism
• Transitions reflected in fiction and nonfiction literature

Please use the form below to submit abstracts of no more than 300 words by December 15, 2016. The presentations, which may be in English or Spanish, and can include papers, film and/or multimedia, should not exceed 15 minutes. Please indicate in your paper abstract if you would be willing to participate in a flash (a 5-minute image slide-show with brief narration) session or a poster session in lieu of a full presentation. Please email gclas.geneseo@gmail.com with any questions.