Reforming Communism: Cuba in Comparative Perspective

 

November 6-8, 2014
University of Pittsburgh

Cuba has been reforming, or been at the brink of a reform period, perhaps since the Revolution. With an aging leadership and now decades-long economic struggles, the pace of change, however, has finally accelerated. Today, Cubans can open small businesses, travel abroad, access the Internet, and purchase cell phones, microwaves, and (very expensive) new cars.

In spite of its size, the Cuban model has been an inspiration—from both a positive and negative perspective—for social movements, political leaders, and cultural expressionists around the world. This conference will examine Cuba’s internal reforms and their external influences within an explicit comparative framework. The conference will include a diverse group of scholars from several world regions to explore the reform away from communism. The conference is also interdisciplinary and will cover themes spanning the humanities to the social sciences.

Conference Poster

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Program (updated 11/06/2014)


Pre-Conference Lectures: A View from Cuba

Thursday, November 6
University Club, Conference Room A (3rd Floor)

4:00 - 6:00 p.m. (Open to the public)

Pre-Conference Lectures: A View from Cuba (in Spanish with English translation)

  • Lenier González Mederos (editor, Cuba Posible): “Sociedad civil en Cuba: apuntes para el presente”
  • Roberto Veiga González  (editor, Cuba Posible): “La Constitución de nuestra República ante una sociedad que renueva sus imaginarios socio-políticos”

6:00 - 7:00 p.m. (Open to the public) - Reception

7:00 - 8:15 p.m. - Conference: Opening Remarks and Keynote Address

Opening: Scott Morgenstern (Director, Center for Latin American Studies) and Jerome Branche (Associate Professor of Latin American and Cultural Studies, Department of Hispanic Languages and Literatures)
Introduction: Jorge Pérez – López (International Economist)

Welcoming: Patty Beeson (Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor)

Keynote Address: Carmelo Mesa-Lago (Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Economics and Latin American Studies)

8:15 - 10:00 p.m. - Dinner (by invitation only)
University Club, Gold Room (2nd floor)


Friday, November 7 (Registration required)
3911 Wesley W. Posvar Hall (3rd floor)

8:00 - 8:30 a.m.  Continental Breakfast

8:30 - 9:00 a.m. - Welcome and Logistics: Scott Morgenstern and Jerome Branche

9:00 - 10:30 a.m. - Comparative Models of Reform

  • Martin K. Dimitrov (Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Asian Studies Program, Tulane University): “Regime Survival in Cuba in Comparative Perspective”
  • Edmund Malesky (Associate Professor of Political Economy, Duke University): “Authoritarian Participation and Regulatory Compliance: A Field Experiment”
  • Yu Xiao (PhD student, University of Pittsburgh): “Fiscal Policy Reform in Cuba and China”

Chair: Barry Ames

10:45 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. - Reform Reconsidered: Arts, Literature, Politics

  • John Beverley (Distinguished Professor of Hispanic Languages and Literatures, University of Pittsburgh): “Caliban after Communism”
  • Odette Casamayor-Cisneros (Associate Professor of Latin American and Caribbean Cultures, University of Connecticut-Storrs): “Between Void and Flesh: Counter-Hegemonic Poetics of Post-Soviet Cuba”
  • Arturo Matute Castro (Visiting Assistant Professor, Modern Languages, Denison University): “Ex-Insula Citizenship: Cuban American Writers and the Negotiation of Cubanness”

Chair: Jerome Branche

12:15 – 1:30 p.m. Lunch

1:30 - 3:00 p.m. - Economic Reforms and International Investment

  • Carlos Alzugaray Treto (Miembro, Asociación de Escritores, Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba): “The ‘Updating of the Economic Model’ in Cuba: An initial Comparative Perspective of Its Domestic and Foreign Political Contexts and Implications”
  • Jorge Pérez-López (International Economist):” Foreign investment in Cuba’s “Updating” of its economic model”
  • Kevin Morrison (Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh): “The Washington Consensus and the New Political Economy of Economic Reform”

Chair: Aníbal Pérez-Liñán

3:15 - 4:45 p.m. - Revisiting the Social(ist) Contract

  • Ana Belén Martin-Sevillano (Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies, Université de Montréal): “Gender-Based Violence: Debate and Representation in the Cuban Cultural Field”
  • Alan West Duran (Associate Professor, Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, Northeastern University):” Lost and Found in Translation: Race in Cuba and the U.S.”

Chair: Michele Reid-Vazquez

6:00 - 9:00 p.m. - Dinner (by invitation only)
The Porch Restaurant (221 Schenley Dr, Pittsburgh, PA 15213)


Saturday, November 8 (Registration required)
3911 Wesley W. Posvar Hall (3rd floor)

8:30 - 9:00 a.m. Continental Breakfast

9:00 - 10:30 a.m. - Cuba and Models of Leftist Politics around the World

  • Juan Andrés Moraes (Professor of Political Science, Universidad de la República-Uruguay): “The Uruguayan Blend: Building a Singular Pro-Market, Pro-Welfare, and Pro-Libertarian Oriented Left”
  • Luke March (Senior Lecturer in Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics, University of Edinburgh): “Between Reform and Radicalism: The Parties of the European ‘Radical’ Left Today”
  • Aníbal Pérez-Liñán (Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh): “Political Parties and Regime Legacies: Lessons for the Future of Cuba”

Chair: Kevin Morrison

10:45 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. - Reforms in Social Welfare: Cuba, Latin America, and Asia 

  • Carmelo Mesa-Lago (Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Economics and Latin American Studies, University of Pittsburgh): “Cuba’s Social Welfare Reforms under Raul Castro, 2006- 2014”
  • Javier Vázquez-D'Elía (Lecturer in Political Science, Penn State Erie, The Behrend College): “The Future of Cuban Social Protection System and the Latin American Mirror”
  • James McGuire (Professor, Department of Government, Wesleyan University): “Initial Conditions and Economic Development: The East Asian Tigers and Cuba”

Chair: Sofia Vera

12:15 – 1:30 p.m. - Lunch (By invitation only)
4130 Wesley W. Posvar Hall (4 floor)

2:00 - 3:30 p.m. - The Communist Legacy

  • Ronald Linden (Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh): “The Communist Legacy in Context: Evidence from East Europe”
  • Lucan Way (Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto): title pending
  • Alejandro de la Fuente (Robert Woods Bliss Professor of Latin American History and Economics and Professor of African and African American Studies and of History, Harvard University): “The Cuban Revolution: A Revisionist Turn?”

Chair: Scott Morgenstern

3:30 - 4:30 p.m. Wrap-up Session


Participants include:

  • Carlos Alzugaray Treto (Unión de Escritores y Artistas de Cuba)
  • John Beverley (University of Pittsburgh)
  • Jerome Branche (University of Pittsburgh)
  • Odette Casamayor-Cisneros (University of Conneticut-Storrs)
  • Alejandro de la Fuente (Harvard University)
  • Martin K. Dimitrov (Tulane University)
  • Lenier Gonzalez (editor: Cuba Posible)
  • Ronald Linden  (University of Pittsburgh)
  • Edmund Malesky (Duke University)
  • Luke March (University of Edinburgh, Scottland)
  • Ana Belen Martin-Sevillano (University of Montreal, Canada)
  • Arturo Matute-Castro (Denison University)
  • James McGuire (Wesleyan University)
  • Carmelo Mesa-Lago (University of Pittsburgh)
  • Juan Andrés Moraes (Universidad de la República, Uruguay)
  • Kevin Morrison (University of Pittsburgh)
  • Aníbal Pérez Liñán (University of Pittsburgh)
  • Jorge Perez Lopez (International Economist)
  • Michele Reid-Vazquez (University of Pittsburgh)
  • Javier Vázquez-D'Elía (University of Pittsburgh)
  • Roberto Veiga (editor: Cuba Posible)
  • Lucan Way (University of Toronto, Canada)
  • Alan West-Duran (Northwestern University)
  • Yu Xiao (University of Pittsburgh)

Sponsored by Center for Latin American Studies CLAS, Global Studies Center (Global Academic Partnership), Office of the Provost, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, Department of Hispanic Languages and Literatures, Department of Political Science and the University Center for International Studies, in collaboration with the Cuba Study Group, Inc.

Contacts:

Scott Morgenstern (Director, Center for Latin American Studies): smorgens@pitt.edu

Jerome Branche (Associate Professor of Latin American and Cultural Studies, Department of Hispanic Languages and Literatures): branche@pitt.edu