Cuba In A Global Context

Cuba in a Global Context examines the unlikely prominence of the island nation's geopolitical role. The contributors to this volume explore the myriad ways in which Cuba has not only maintained but often increased its reach and influence in Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. From the beginning, the Castro regime established a foreign policy that would legitimize the revolutionary government, if not in the eyes of the United States at least in the eyes of other global actors. The essays in this volume shed new light on Cuban diplomacy with communist China as well as with Western governments such as Great Britain and Canada. In recent years, Cubans have improved their lives in the face of the ongoing U.S. embargo. The promotion of increased economic and political cooperation between Cuba and Venezuela served as a catalyst for the Petrocaribe group. Links established with countries in the Caribbean and Central America have increased tourism, medical diplomacy, and food sovereignty across the region. Cuban transnationalism has also succeeded in creating people-to-people contacts involving those who have remained on the island and members of the Cuban diaspora. While the specifics of Cuba's international relations are likely to change as new leaders take over, the role of Cubans working to assert their sovereignty has undoubtedly impacted every corner of the globe.

"Examines the impact of international migration on the society and culture of Cuba since the colonial period"--Provided by publisher.

In the years since the Cuban Revolution in 1959, eleven men have served as president of the United States, arguably the most powerful nation on earth. Yet none of them has been able to effect any significant change in the stalemate between the United States and Cuba, its closest neighbor not to share a land border. Fifty Years of Revolution features contributions from an international Who's Who gallery of leading scholars. The volume adopts a uniquely nonpartisan attitude, a departure from this topic's generally divisive nature. Emerging from a series of meetings, conference panels, and lectures, the book coheres more strongly than the typical essay collection. Organized to analyze--not describe--Cuba’s foreign relations, the work examines sanctions, the embargo, regime change, Guantánamo, the exile community, and more. Drawing from personal experiences as well as recently declassified documents, these essays update, summarize, and explain one of the prickliest political issues in the Western Hemisphere today.

Since the arrival of the Spanish conquerors at the beginning of the colonial period, Cuba has been hugely influenced by international migration. Between 1791 and 1810, for instance, many French people migrated to Cuba in the wake of the purchase of Louisiana by the United States and turmoil in Saint-Domingue. Between 1847 and 1874, Cuba was the main recipient of Chinese indentured laborers in Latin America. During the nineteenth century as a whole, more Spanish people migrated to Cuba than anywhere else in the Americas, and hundreds of thousands of slaves were taken to the island. The first decades of the twentieth century saw large numbers of immigrants and temporary workers from various societies arrive in Cuba. And since the revolution of 1959, a continuous outflow of Cubans toward many countries has taken place—with lasting consequences. In this book, the most comprehensive study of international migration in Cuba ever undertaken, Margarita Cervantes-Rodríguez aims to elucidate the forces that have shaped international migration and the involvement of the migrants in transnational social fields since the beginning of the colonial period. Drawing on Fernand Braudel’s concept of longue durée, transnational studies, perspectives on power, and other theoretical frameworks, the author places her analysis in a much wider historical and theoretical perspective than has previously been applied to the study of international migration in Cuba, making this a work of substantial interest to social scientists as well as historians.

The Caribbean ranks among the earliest and most completely globalized regions in the world. From the first moment Europeans set foot on the islands to the present, products, people, and ideas have made their way back and forth between the region and other parts of the globe with unequal but inexorable force. An inventory of some of these unprecedented multidirectional exchanges, this volume provides a measure of, as well as a model for, new scholarship on globalization in the region. Ten essays by leading scholars in the field of Caribbean studies identify and illuminate important social and cultural aspects of the region as it seeks to maintain its own identity against the unrelenting pressures of globalization. These essays examine cultural phenomena in their creolized forms--from sports and religion to music and drink--as well as the Caribbean manifestations of more universal trends--from racial inequality and feminist activism to indebtedness and economic uncertainty. Throughout, the volume points to the contending forces of homogeneity and differentiation that define globalization and highlights the growing agency of the Caribbean peoples in the modern world. Contributors: Antonio Benitez-Rojo (1931-2004) Alex Dupuy, Wesleyan University Juan Flores, City University of New York Graduate Center Jorge L. Giovannetti, University of Puerto Rico Aline Helg, University of Geneva Franklin W. Knight, The Johns Hopkins University Anthony P. Maingot, Florida International University Teresita Martinez-Vergne, Macalester College Helen McBain, Economic Commission for Latin America & the Caribbean, Trinidad Frances Negron-Muntaner, Columbia University Valentina Peguero, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Raquel Romberg, Temple University

Cuban International Relations at 60 brings together the perspectives of leading experts and the personal accounts of two ambassadors to examine Cuba’s global engagement and foreign policy since January 1959 by focusing on the island’s key international relationships and issues. Thisbook’s first section focuseson Havana’s complex relationship with Washington and its second section concentrates on Cuba’s other key relationships with consideration also being given to Cuba's external trade and investment sectors and the possibility of the island becoming a future petro-power. Throughout this study due attention is given to the role of history and Cuban nationalism in the formation of the island’s unique foreign policy. This book’s examination and reflection on Cuba as an actor on the international arena for the 60 years of the revolutionary period highlights the multifaceted and complex reasons for the island’s global engagement. It concludes that Cuba’s global presence since January 1959 has been remarkable for a Caribbean island, is unparalleled, and is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Scholars of international relations, Latin American studies, and political science n will find this book particularly interesting.

Learn what trends and factors are influencing families globally How are families the same or different around the world? Families in a Global Context puts the similarities and differences into perspective, presenting an in-depth comparative analysis of family life in 17 countries around the world. Contributors discuss different countries' family life by using a standard framework to review major influences and patterns. The framework allows readers to do comparative reflection across several countries on a variety of daily living elements, including social and economic forces such as urbanization and modernization, changes in gender/courtship/spousal patterns, and war. This book provides an informative illustration of current as well as future trends of family life worldwide. Each chapter in Families in a Global Context describes customary types of family patterns within each country’s social organization and culture. Important social, economic, political, and other trends are explored in detail, and major ethnic, religious, or other subcultures are noted emphasizing marriage and family patterns that differ from the more typical ones. The book is extensively referenced and includes tables to clearly present data. Countries explored in Families in a Global Context include: European countries of Wales, Sweden, Germany, Romania, and Italy African countries of Sierra Leone, South Africa, and Kenya Middle Eastern countries of Turkey and Iran Asian and Oceanian countries of India, China, the Philippines, and Australia Latin American countries of Brazil, Mexico, and Cuba Topics discussed for each country in Families in a Global Context include: demographics mate selection patterns with an emphasis on the dynamics of couple formation marital roles the place and role of children and parenting in families socialization for gender roles differences in education, employment, and other opportunities major stressors affecting families, coping, and adaptation aging and life expectancy issues and much more! Families in a Global Context is an insightful resource for researchers, educators, and advanced undergraduate and graduate students investigating comparative family topics of family life around the world and in cultural context.