“For blood or for glory” examines boxing’s political, social, and cultural impacts in Cuba from the U.S. military intervention in 1898 to the Castro regime’s prohibition on professional sports in 1962. It argues that, although boxing’s early development was strongly influenced by the U.S. presence on the island, over time the sport became “Cubanized” in distinct ways. The establishment of a national commission, the practice of interracial bouts, and the creation of a national academy served to develop Cuban talent. Yet in contrast to baseball, boxing was incompletely integrated into the nationalist project; by midcentury, it was valued more was as a source of state revenue than national pride. The lack of opportunities for Cuban fighters at home led to their exodus abroad, as they formed a transnational citizenry ranging from world champions and contenders to lowly journeymen. After the onset of the Cuban Revolution, the state sought to sustain prizefighting and other professional sports, but ultimately opted to ban them as Cuba’s tourist industry fell apart. Chapter 1 addresses different facets of early pugilism, including the rise of a boxing subculture in late colonial and early republic Cuba, the Havana YMCA’s efforts to encourage amateur boxing among middle-class Cubans and U.S. expatriates, and the construction of new infrastructure for public spectacles. Jack Johnson’s heavyweight title fight with Jess Willard in Havana in April 1915, and Cuban receptions to it, forms the subject of Chapter 2. Chapter 3 details the processes by which boxing spectacles were legalized and regulated and describes the rise of Cuba’s first world champion, Kid Chocolate. Chapter 4 considers the conflicting role of the state in both spurring and limiting boxing’s growth throughout the country during the 1930s and 1940s. Chapter 5 tackles the 1950s, including the impact of television on boxing in the U.S. and Cuba and the career of Kid Gavilán. Chapter 6 explores the decline of prizefighting in revolutionary Cuba and the concurrent establishment of an exiled community of prizefighters in the U.S. The Conclusion analyzes developments in post-1962 amateur boxing in Cuba and speculates as to the sport’s future on the island. / text

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Social constructionists argue that through narrative human beings create the realities that they subsequently inhabit. Since Cuba first gained its independence, the nation has been beset by a series of historiographical battles in which various political actors have vied for hegemony over Cuba’s past. If the conflicts that occurred in the first half of the twentieth century revolved around attempts by disparate competing factions to confer legitimacy on their respective ideological projects by successfully appropriating the figure of José Marti, then the last fifty years have been characterised by struggles between revolutionary hagiographers and anticommunist revisionists over the true natures of the Batista regime, its Castroite replacement, as well as of the figures of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. This dissertation examines Cuba’s post-Batista linguistic conflict with itself through the lens of social psychology as well as by employing the closely related disciplines of social constructionism, narrative therapy, and bibliotherapy in an attempt to understand what effects the various discourses have had on the nation. After initially teasing out the relationship between draconian censorship and the emergence of an aesthetics of misanthropy, I proceed to illustrate how the works of certain Cuban mystery novelists in the 1990s highlight the need for historiographical reconciliation by gesturing towards the plethora of historical ambiguities that problematised national reconciliation. The fourth and fifth chapters investigate how these narratological contestations play out with respect to the figures of Castro and Guevara. I use narrative mediation to illustrate how, in order for internecine divisions to be eradicated, a more objective biographical approach to these individuals – and one which transcends Manicheanism – is required.  The concluding chapter focuses on how a redemptive literary aesthetics has been marshalled to lift Cuba out of its ontological abyss.

Profesor especializado en danza / Cuando comencé mis estudios de perfeccionamientos de danza moderna en Cuba me vi enfrentada a una forma de movimiento realmente especial y para mi completamente nueva, los años dedicados al estudio de la danza me permitieron en mis primeras reflexiones reconocer ciertos elementos técnico provenientes de la técnica Graham y algunos de mi experiencia en la técnica Cunnigham, sin embargo estos eran tratados de una forma diferente donde además se conjugaban elementos que parecían provenir de una influencia más bien folklórica, una marcada tendencia a los elementos provenientes del afro como por ejemplo la fuerza de los movimientos, el trabajo de la ondulación del torso, la inclusión de la sensualidad, por nombrar algunos, y por que además el acompañamiento musical eran claramente percusiones y cantos africanos incluidos en las clases diarias. El alto nivel técnico y me atrevo a decir artístico también alcanzado por los bailarines me hizo pensar que estaba frente a un estudio muy completo del movimiento lo que me impulsó a realizar una investigación más profunda de la danza moderna Cubana y en lo que ellos denominan técnica contemporánea Cubana. Esa investigación es la que llenara las páginas de esta tesis y el recorrido que realice para comprender mejor el desarrollo que ha tenido la danza en Cuba. Acotar esta investigación no fue fácil ya que Cuba posee un universo dancistico muy amplio que no acontece de manera aislada sino más bien en conjunción con otros estilos. El desarrollo alcanzado en el ballet, la importancia que se le ingiere al rescate del folklore entre otras ha hecho que la danza moderna se alimente de otras disciplinas y que a la vez esta influencia a otros estilos.

This work started with a journey to Cubain 2008 and is homage to the city of Havanaand its working-class residents. Thecollection is a collage of an image of aninterior in an old, abandoned castle anda mosaic tile from a street in Havana.Materials are carefully sourced to representthe history and present of the citybut also to give suggestions for the future.Worn and torn furniture materialshave been used in contrast to more new andshiny. Since the Habaneros are experts increating out of the existing most part ofthe collecion is either reconstructed,repaired or reproductions of the old.The result is a collection containinghistorical insinuations as well as ideasfor the future. The garments are bothshowpieces as well as more wearable. / Program: Modedesignutbildningen

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acase@tulane.edu / 1 / Alejandra E. Marks

acase@tulane.edu / In 1933, the Cuban Communist Party experienced a change in leadership from the white poet and lawyer Rubén Martínez Villena to a black former shoe repairman from Manzanillo, Blas Roca. This shift marked the beginning of a new era in Cuban politics. This thesis argues that the Communist Party was an unparalleled space for black political activism in Cuba’s late republic period due to the unique convergence of black actors within its ranks. The Party reflected a singular intersection of labor leaders, members of black fraternal organizations, and black intelligencia. This group of black political actors fought for an end to racial discrimination throughout the history of the Party and successfully reintroduced a public engagement with race in Cuban political rhetoric during the 1940 Constitutional Assembly. Unlike other contemporary political parties, the Communist Party created a space for simultaneous expressions of blackness and Cubanness that drew black Cubans into its ranks. The Party’s decades long struggle for anti-discrimination legislation ultimately failed, but their prolonged struggle for greater equity on the island disrupted domestic politics and distinguished the Cuban Party from other contemporary Communist parties. / 1 / Kaitlyn D Henderson

Dissertation--Hannover--Universität, 2003. / Bibliogr. p. 399-436.

Texte remanié de: Th.--Universidad de Cá́diz, 1978. / Bibliogr. p. 213-217.