The Cuban Diasporic Experience
Fall 2011/ Monday, 4:40-7:05
WEST 3340 -001/HUM 3990 – 001 & 002
Dr. A. Herrera, Columbine Hall suite 1025
e-mail: aherrera@mail.uccs.edu
tel. #: 719.255.4553
Office hours: Mondays from 2:00-4:00 or by appointment
Professor M. León Rainey, Dwire all 253
mrainey@uccs.edu
tel. #: 719.255.3085
Office hours: Mondays from 2:00-4:00 or by appointment
Course Description: On 8 January 1959 Fidel Castro marched into Havana with his triumphant guerrilla troops;
shortly thereafter, he systematically eliminated his competition and established himself as Prime Minister of Cuba.
In May 1960, Castro reestablished diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and in the following year severed
Cuba’s ties to the United States. By 1968, he had solidified Cuba’s economic and philosophical ties with the
Soviets. Despite the fact that Castro’s early reforms, such as the Agrarian Reform Laws, won him widespread
support among diverse sectors of the Cuban population, the increasing appropriation of land and privately owned
businesses on the part of his government (coupled with growing economic and personal restrictions in the name of
reform) caused many to begin to question and consequently challenge not only their leader’s intentions but the
direction the Revolution was taking. As a result, many Cubans abandoned their native land and sought sanctuary in
various parts of the world in a gradual exodus that has come to be known as the Cuban diaspora.
The Cuban Diasporic Experience is designed to give students the opportunity to read and compare/contrast a
wide range of cultural works by diasporic Cubans and their offspring both in the United States and across the globe.
In addition to considering the artists’ and authors’ use of form and concept, we will consider the manner in which
identity is conceptualized or constructed in terms of the interconnected or cross-cutting categories such as race,
class, gender, generation, geographical location and sexual/religious orientation. We will also discuss the ways in
which these authors and artists position and identify themselves in terms of Cuban culture, and in respect to that
which represents counter-culture or ‘other’. Finally, we will compare the Cuban diaspora to other diasporic
experiences.
Required Texts:
Cuban Artists Across the Diaspora: Setting the Tent Against the House, Andrea O’Reilly Herrera
Anna in the Tropics, Nilo Cruz
Parable Hunter, Ricardo Pau Llosa
Waiting for Snow in Havana, Carlos Eire
Dreaming in Cuban, Cristina Garcia
Before Night Falls, Reynaldo Arenas
Recommended Reading List:
Havana USA, María Cristina García
Between Reformation and Reform, Louis Pérez
Cuba: A History, Hugh Thomas
Life on the Hyphen, Gustavo Pérez Firmat
Cuban-American Narratives of Exile: From Person to Persona; Isabel Alvarez Borland
Negotiating Identities in Cuban American Art and Literature, Eds. I. Alvarez Borland & L. Bosch
Identity, Memory and Diaspora: Voices of Cuban-American Philosophers,
Writers, Poets and Artists, Eds. Jorge Gracia , Lynette Bosch, & Isabel Alvarez
Cuban-American Art in Miami, Lynette Bosch
Caribbean Art, Veerle Poupeye
New Art Of Cuba, Luis Camnitzer
ReMembering Cuba: Legacy of a Diaspora; Cuba: Idea of a Nation Displaced; The Pearl of the Antilles (by Andrea
O’Reilly Herrera)
Course Requirements



Weekly in-class quizzes/short critical responses
2 take-home essay examinations
Final Self-Reflective essay & Blog posting
15%
50%
35%
**All students are required to attend the following events and submit a short critical response within a week of
attendance:
 The symposium and performance marking the close of CAFÉ XII at the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center,
Saturday 10 September (12:00-5:00);

“Cuban Art in Diaspora,” which will open at the Business of Art Center in Manitou Springs on 23
September and run until the 16 October;

Attend either the poetry reading/artists presentation at the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center on Friday evening
30 September; or the panel discussion and poetry reading at the Pikes Peak Public Library East on Sunday
2nd October.
*See cubatransnational.blogspot.com for more information/directions to these various venues!
*The methods used in the classroom will include a combination of traditional instructor-led lecture/discussion as
well as guest lectures and student led discussions. Class attendance and participation at all classes and at the 2
symposiums listed in the course schedule are expected. Students are expected to come to class prepared to
discuss the required reading materials.
Accommodation for Physical or Learning Disabilities: To request reasonable accommodation of physical and/or
learning challenges, students must contact the Office of Disability Services and receive a disability verification
letter. The office is located in Main Hall, tel. # 262-3354.
Requirements:
*Class attendance is mandatory. More than one unexcused cut will negatively affect your grade; more than two
unexcused cuts can result in failure.
*Be sure to bring your books to class and consult your weekly reading assignment schedule.
*Please turn off and put away all computers and cell phones during class. Absolutely no web searching or
texting allowed!
*Students are expected to come to class prepared. The instructor reserves the right to give unannounced quizzes,
which cannot be made up should the student be absent.
*Written assignments will not be accepted late unless the student has contacted the professor either in person or by
phone and received her permission in advance to turn in the assignment either after class or at a later date.
*All assignments written outside of class must be typed or word-processed and stapled and written in standard
English—please be sure to include your name, the date, and the course number on the title page and to number and
include your last name on all of the subsequent pages. Don’t wait until the last minute to print out your essay!
*Plagiarism on any assignment is grounds for failure.
*Do not come to class late! Attendance will be taken on a regular basis; if you are late, you will be marked absent.
Should you have to leave early, be sure to notify the professor prior to class.
Please do not ask us to waive any of these rules!
* ** *
Classroom Behavior and Conduct: Students and faculty both share responsibility for maintaining a positive
educational environment. Your faculty have a responsibility to treat students with understanding, dignity and
respect. Your faculty also have the right and the authority to guide classroom discussion and to set reasonable
limits on the manner in which students express opinions. Disruptive students in the academic setting hinder the
educational environment. Students who fail to adhere to such reasonable limits shall be subject to disciplinary
action(s).
“Disruption,” as applied to the academic setting, means verbal and other behavior in the classroom that a faculty
member judges as interfering with normal academic functions. Disruptive student conduct is prohibited by Regent
Laws, the UCCS Student Code of Conduct and the Student Classroom/Course-Related Behavior Policy. For more
information go to the Office of the Dean of Students website
at http://www.uccs.edu/~dos/studentconduct/index.html.
Course Schedule (subject to revision)
WEEK ONE/22 August: Introduction: The historical context
WEEK TWO/29 August: Readings: Cuban Artists Across the Diaspora, Introduction & Chapter One; “Cuba
Before 1959” (posted on Blackboard; from Cuba, What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia Sweig).
**All students are required to attend the symposium and performance marking the close of
CAFÉ at the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center, Saturday 10 September; see our blog for more
information: cubatransnational.blogspot.com
WEEK THREE/12 September: Readings: Cuban Artists Across the Diaspora, chapters Two & Three;
Selected readings on BlackBoard from ReMembering Cuba
***Guest speaker/performer artist, Leandro Soto
WEEK FOUR/19 September: Readings: Cuban Artists Across the Diaspora, chapters Four & Five.
**be sure to see postings on the Cuban avant-garde on Blackboard:
http://www.cubaabsolutely.com/articles/art/art_byacti.php?landa=2
**Students are required to attend “Cuban Art in Diaspora,” which opens 23 September and runs through 16
October.
WEEK FIVE/26 September: Readings: Cuban Artists Across the Diaspora, chapters, Six and Seven
**distribute 1st take-home essay examination
WEEK SIX/3 October: Rum and Coke, a performance by Cuban American author/actor Carmen Peláez
*the performance will be followed by a panel discussion with critic and author
Raúl Rubio and Cuban poets Lourdes Gil, Iraida Iturralde, and several of the
participating artists in the exhibition woman.embodied.
See: http://www.carmenpelaez.com/CARMEN_PELAEZ/BIOGRAPHY.html
**All students are required to either attend the poetry reading/artists presentation at the Sangre de
Cristo Arts Center on Friday evening 30 September; or the panel discussion and poetry reading at
the Pikes Peak Public Library, East on Sunday 2nd October
WEEK SEVEN/10 October: Readings: Nilo Cruz, Anna in the Tropics; and selected poetry by José María Heredia
and José Martí (see Blackboard).
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9-Maria_de_Heredia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mart%C3%AD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nilo_Cruz
WEEK EIGHT/17 October: Readings: Ricardo Pau-Llosa, Parable Hunter; Alejo Carpentier, Journey
Back to the Source (Blackboard)
See: http://www.pau-llosa.com/Biography.html
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/videoLibrary/clip.php?appid=598524320
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alejo_Carpentier
WEEK NINE/24 October: Readings: see Blackboard for selected poems by Heberto Padilla and short stories by
Alejo Carpentier; Before Night Falls, Reynaldo Arenas
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heberto_Padilla
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinaldo_Arenas
WEEK TEN/31 October: Readings: Carlos Eire, Waiting for Snow in Havana
See: http://www.yale.edu/history/faculty/eire.html
WEEK ELEVEN/7 November: Cristina Garcia, Dreaming in Cuban
See: http://www.cristinagarcianovelist.com/
**Distribute 2nd take-home examination
WEEK TWELVE/14 November: Cuban Cinema: Fresa y Chocolate (Strawberry and Chocolate),
directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío
**Guest speaker; Dr. Fernando Felui-Moggi
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawberry_and_Chocolate_%28film%29
WEEK THIRTEEN/21 November: No Class!!! (in lieu of students’ presence at the symposiums)
WEEK FOURTEEN/28 November: la musica Cubana (Cuban music) Readings: see selected poems by Nicolás
Guillén; and selected essays by Raúl Fernández and Antonio Benítez-Rojo on Blackboard.
Film: The Legends of Cuban Music
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicol%C3%A1s_Guill%C3%A9n
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Ben%C3%ADtez-Rojo
WEEK FIFTEEN/5 December: Salsa & sabor!!! Salsa demonstration by local artist Hector Diaz; closing
discussion and potluck!!!
**Final Self-Reflective essay due