Shaping New Cultural Literacies

doi:10.1017/9781009168359.025

24 - Shaping New Cultural Literacies

from Part IV - The Revolution’s Literary-Cultural Initiatives and Their Early Discontents

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 August 2024

Paloma Duong

Edited by

Vicky Unruh and

Jacqueline Loss

Show author details

Vicky Unruh: Affiliation:
University of Kansas
Jacqueline Loss: Affiliation:
University of Connecticut

Book contents

Get access

Summary

This chapter examines the state-organized cultural literacy movements of postrevolutionary Cuba and the dynamics of the demands of the collective sphere, along with individuation and standing out. The chapter analyzes the model of the socialist worker-amateur citizen fostered by the revolutionary state, arguing that the figures of the amateur and the “art instructor,” as well as the creation of local casas de cultura [houses of culture], became antidotes to capitalist consumer culture. Along with their positive, diversifying effects, the chapter suggests, there came a deep suspicion toward practitioners of so-called elitist culture, demonstrating how, within this process, the state emerged as both benefactor and punisher.

Keywords

Cuban cultural literacy movements Cuba’s socialist worker-amateur citizen model “houses of culture” as antidotes to capitalist consumerism anti-elitism in cultural literacy movements

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge History of Cuban Literature , pp. 384 - 396

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009168359.025 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Works Cited

Armenteros Toledo, Marta B., and Díaz Acosta, Rolando, editors. 25 Aniversario: Movimiento de artistas aficionados. Biblioteca Nacional José Martí, 1985.Google Scholar

Carbonell, Walterio. Cómo surgió la cultura nacional. Yaka, 1961.Google Scholar

Casal, Lourdes. El caso Padilla: Literatura y revolución en Cuba. Universal, 1975.Google Scholar

Chanan, Michael. Cuban Cinema. U of Minnesota P, 2004.Google Scholar

Clealand, Danielle Pilar. The Power of Race in Cuba: Racial Ideology and Black Consciousness During the Revolution. Oxford UP, 2017.CrossRef Google Scholar

Cuban Poster Collection 1960–2000. University of California, Berkeley, and José Martí National Library of Cuba, https://calisphere.org/collections/5407/?rq=Aficionados.Google Scholar

Cuban Theater Digital Archive. Directed by Lillian Manzor, University of Miami Libraries and College of Arts and Sciences, 2011, https://ctda.library.miami.edu/.Google Scholar

Domínguez, Daylet. “Antiintelectualismo y género policial en la narrativa cubana de los 70.” Encuentro de la cultura cubana, no. 53–54, Summer/Fall 2009, pp. 205–213.Google Scholar

Fowler Calzada, Víctor, “Limones partidos.” Cubista Magazine, no. 5, Summer 2006, https://rialta.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/8_Fowler_Limones-partidos.pdf.Google Scholar

Fusco, Coco. Dangerous Moves: Performance and Politics in Cuba. Tate, 2015.Google Scholar

González Hernández, Noelia. “Testimonio.” Cuban Theater Digital Archive, https://ctda.library.miami.edu/creator/10506.Google Scholar

Jiménez Enoa, Abraham. “Professions Do Not Belong to Those Who Study Them … But to Those Who Practice Them.” Interview by Ted Henken. No Country Magazine, 23 Aug. 2021, https://nocountrymagazine.com/abraham-jimenez-enoa-professions-do-not-belong-to-those-who-study-them-but-to-those-who-practice-them/.Google Scholar

Loss, Jacqueline. “Socialism with Bling: Aspiration, Decency, and Exclusivity in Contemporary Cuba.” Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies, vol. 30, no. 2, 2021, pp. 291–310.CrossRef Google Scholar

Manduley López, Humberto. Hierba mala: Una historia del rock en Cuba. La Luz, 2015.Google Scholar

Nehru, Meesha. “The Path to Becoming a Writer in Contemporary Cuba.” Literary Culture in Cuba: Revolution, Nation-Building and the Book, by Kumaraswami, Par and Kapcia, Antoni, with Nehru, Meesha. Manchester UP, 2012, pp. 178–193.Google Scholar

Otero, Lisandro, and Martínez Hinojosa, Francisco. Cultural Policy in Cuba, UNESCO, 1972, https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000001179.Google Scholar

Postone, Moishe. Time, Labor, and Social Domination: A Reinterpretation of Marx’s Critical Theory. Cambridge UP, 1993.CrossRef Google Scholar

Repertorio de teatro para el movimiento de aficionados. Dirección de Artistas Aficionados, Editorial Oriente, 1986.Google Scholar

Retrato de Teresa. Directed by Pastor Vega, ICAIC, 1979.Google Scholar

Rocha, Glauber. Cartas ao mundo. Edited by Bentes, Ivana, Companhia das Letras, 1997.Google Scholar

Salkey, Andrew. Havana Journal. Pelican, 1971.Google Scholar

Saruski, Jaime and Gerardo Mosquera. The Cultural Policy of Cuba. UNESCO, 1979, https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000032827.Google Scholar

Smorkaloff, Pamela María. Literatura y edición de libros: La cultura literaria y el proceso social en Cuba. Letras Cubanas, 1987.Google Scholar

“Talleres literarios: Folleto metodológico.” Consejo Nacional de Cultura, Dirección General de Literatura y Publicaciones, 1975.Google Scholar

Triana, Alexis. “El 349, Un decreto en torno a la circulación del arte.” Granma, 20 Nov. 2018, https://www.granma.cu/cultura/2018-11-29/el-349-un-decreto-en-torno-a-la-circulacion-del-arte-29-11-2018-22-11-31.Google Scholar

Unruh, Vicky. “Gender, the Culture of Work, and the Work of Culture: Exemplary Tales from Cuba.” Brújula, vol. 4, no. 1, Dec. 2005, pp. 9–33.Google Scholar