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We have 1 items in our Catalogue that match your search for
9780822341963.
Cuba
(
Subtitle:
Religion, Social Capital, and Development)
by
Adrian Hearn
( Paperback)
ISBN:
9780822341963
Publisher:
Duke University Press
Price:
£15.99
Published in UK:
11/08/2008
When Cuba’s centralized system for providing basic social services began to erode in the early 1990s, Christian and Afro-Cuban religious groups took on new social and political responsibilities. They began to work openly with state institutions on projects such as the promotion of Afro-Cuban heritage to generate tourism revenue, and community welfare initiatives to confront drug use, prostitution, and housing decay. In this rich ethnography, the anthropologist Adrian H. Hearn provides a detailed, on-the-ground analysis of how the Cuban state and local religious groups collaborate on community-development projects and how they work with the many foreign development agencies operating in Cuba. He argues that the growing number of collaborations between state and non-state actors has begun to consolidate the foundations of a civil society in Cuba. While conducting research, Hearn lived for a year each in two Santeria temple-houses: one located in Old Havana and the other in Santiago de Cuba. During those stays, he conducted numerous interviews: with the Historian of Havana and the Conservationist of Santiago de Cuba (positions roughly equivalent to those of U.S. mayors), acclaimed writers, influential leaders of Afro-Cuban religions, and many citizens involved in community-development initiatives. Hearn draws on those interviews, his participant-observation in the temple-houses, case studies, and archival research to convey the daily life experiences and motivations of religious practitioners, development workers, and politicians. Using the concept of social capital, he explains the state’s desire to incorporate tight-knit religious groups into its community-development projects, and he illuminates a fundamental challenge facing Cuba’s religious communities: how to maintain their spiritual integrity and internal solidarity while participating in state-directed projects.
Review Quote:
“This is one of the best studies on civil society in Cuba that I have read. Adrian H. Hearn combines first-rate ethnography, theoretical sophistication, and a solid understanding of the complexities of the Cuban political context. By focusing on Afro-Cuban religious communities and international NGOs, Hearn shows how the interpenetration of state and citizen action has shaped civil society in Cuba. The result is a fascinating analysis of the ongoing transformations within the Cuban Revolution.” Ariel C. Armony, Katz Distinguished Associate Professor of Government, Colby College “This volume reveals the complexity of Cuban society through remarkable ethnographic research. Based on years of research in Cuba, the work documents the inner workings of communities that use deeply held religious beliefs to promote development projects aimed at securing basic needs. Through skillful analysis, Adrian H. Hearn reveals the realities of life for ordinary Cubans. This book is a major contribution to our understanding of contemporary Cuba, as well as an exemplar for all those interested in how religion and community development can intersect.” Margaret Crahan, author of
Religion, Culture, and Society: The Case of Cuba
“Adrian Hearn throws some piercing insights into the complex relationship between the Cuban state and grassroots neighbourhood initiatives and formal and informal local organisations that, the author contends, have flourished after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the onset of what was known as the “special period in peace time”...the book contains an astonishing amount of detailed knowledge of local social and cultural projects in various poor districts in Havana” Francisco Domínguez,
Times Higher Education
, December 2008
