North Seattle Community College
Beginnings Coordinated Studies class
Just as we have asked you to do with the other books we are reading this quarter, we would like you to do some preliminary research on Cristina Garcia’s novel Dreaming in
Cuban, so you can understand and appreciate the “people” portrayed in the novel and the cultural and literary underpinnings of Garcia’s writing. We will do this in class and have short presentations to “ share” the research.
 It will help you better understand Garcia’s novel and her sense of Cuban culture and history (which we in the United States know little about!).

It will help prepare you for the in-class seminars on Dreaming in Cuban—one on
Wednesday, Nov. 3 and when the seminar paper is DUE on Nov. 10 th .
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There are many possibilities for your research; here are some to explore. In your seminar group or at your table, you should divide up the topics and then we will regroup people by topics.
1.
the author Cristina Garcia
2.
magical realism in fiction
3.
critical reviews of her writing
4.
Immigrant literature and the “lost homeland”
5.
Mother-daughter relationships and maternal storytelling in cultures
6.
Cuban history before and since 1950s
7.
Fidel Castro and his rise to power and rule
8.
The Castro revolution
9.
Cuban migration to the United States
10.
United States’ relationship with Cuba now and since the revolution
11.
Bay of Pigs event and its political impacts
12.
Religious tradition in Cuba—including the “Santeria” and cultural aspects of Catholicism.
1. Friendship Force International http://www.friendshipforce.org/
2. Multicultural Pavilion http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/
3. elements of cross-cultural communication: http://www.nwrel.org/cnorse/booklets/ccc/table4.html
4. a list of cultural differences in gestures and other body kinesics:

http://www.csupomona.edu/~tassi/gestures.htm