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Havana beyond the Ruins
Cultural Mappings after 1989
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Edited by:
Anke Birkenmaier
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2011
About this book
In Havana beyond the Ruins, prominent architects, scholars, and writers based in and outside of Cuba analyze how Havana has been portrayed in literature, music, and the visual arts since Soviet subsidies of Cuba ceased, and the Cuban state has re-imagined Havana as a destination for international tourists and business ventures. Cuba’s capital has experienced little construction since the revolution of 1959; many of its citizens live in poorly maintained colonial and modernist dwellings. It is this Havana—of crumbling houses, old cars, and a romantic aura of ruined hopes—that is marketed in picture books, memorabilia, and films. Meanwhile, Cuba remains a socialist economy, and government agencies maintain significant control of urban development, housing, and employment. Home to more than two million people and a locus of Cuban national identity, Havana today struggles with the some of the same problems as other growing world cities, including slums and escalating social and racial inequalities. Bringing together assessments of the city’s dwellings and urban development projects, Havana beyond the Ruins provides unique insights into issues of memory, citizenship, urban life, and the future of the revolution in Cuba.
Contributors
Emma Álvarez-Tabío Albo
Eric Felipe-Barkin
Anke Birkenmaier
Velia Cecilia Bobes
Mario Coyula-Cowley
Elisabeth Enenbach
Sujatha Fernandes
Jill Hamberg
Patricio del Real
Cecelia Lawless
Jacqueline Loss
Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo
Antonio José Ponte
Nicolás Quintana
Jose Quiroga
Laura Redruello
Rafael Rojas
Joseph L. Scarpaci
Esther Whitfield
Author / Editor information
Anke Birkenmaier is Assistant Professor of Spanish at Indiana University.
Esther Whitfield is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature at Brown University.
Reviews
“... an interesting addition to work on the city of Havana.” - Guy Baron, Bulletin of Spanish Studies
“[E]specially timely…. These essays by architects, historians, cultural critics, sociologists, photographers, and writers from the island and beyond yield a variety of perspectives, reflecting competing visions for Havana’s present and future.” - Rachel Price, Literature and Arts of the Americas
“All in all, this book should be considered an exploratory account that will hopefully incite more anthropologists to investigate the current transformations of Havana, arguably the Latin American capital of the 20th century.” - MARIAN VIOREL ANASTASOAIE, Social Anthropology
“A superb collection of provocative, wide-ranging essays on what used to be, and soon will be again, America’s favorite foreign city. The distinguished contributors—the Havana All-Stars—explore the body and soul of the Cuban capital with passion and insight.”—Gustavo Pérez Firmat, author of The Havana Habit
“An eloquent, urgent, and riveting account of Havana today and where it might be tomorrow. This anthology brings together an incredible range of thoughtful observers, all of whom adore this gorgeous tropical metropolis, ravished by the sea and by history. Congratulations to Anke Birkenmaier and Esther Whitfield for the gift of this book, which is certain to become a classic.”—Ruth Behar, author of An Island Called Home: Returning to Jewish Cuba
“[An] interesting addition to work on the city of Havana.”
-- Guy Baron Bulletin of Spanish Studies
“[E]specially timely…. These essays by architects, historians, cultural critics, sociologists, photographers, and writers from the island and beyond yield a variety of perspectives, reflecting competing visions for Havana’s present and future.”
-- Rachel Price Literature and Arts of the Americas
Topics
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Frontmatter
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CONTENTS
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Preface
ix -
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Introduction: Beyond the Ruins
1 - PART I. Mapping Havana: Citizenship and the City
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1. Visits to a Non-Place: Havana and Its Representation(s)
15 -
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2. The Bitter Trinquennium and the Dystopian City: Autopsy of a Utopia
31 -
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3. Barbacoas: Havana’s New Inward Frontier
53 -
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4. The ‘‘Slums’’ of Havana
73 -
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5. Havana and Its Landscapes: A Vision for Future Reconstruction of Cuban Cities
106 -
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6. The Illegible City: Havana after the Messiah
119 -
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Havana: A Photo-Essay
135 - PART II. Havana’s Shifting Margins
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7. The City in Midair
149 -
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8. Made in Havana City: Rap Music, Space, and Racial Politics
173 -
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9. Urban Performance Pieces in Fragmented Form: A Reading of Pedro Juan Gutiérrez and Antonio José Ponte
187 -
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10. Topographies of Cosmonauts in Havana: Proyecto Vostok and Insausti’s Existen
209 -
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11. Touring Havana in the Work of Ronaldo Menéndez
229 - PART III. Coda
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12. La Habana: City and Archive
249 -
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13. Bitter Daiquiris: A Crystal Chronicle
270 -
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Glossary
287 -
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References
297 -
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Contributors
315 -
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Index
319
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
October 14, 2020
eBook ISBN:
9780822394426
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
