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HYBRID NETWORKS AND URBAN SPACES
IN POST-SOCIALIST CUBA
by
Erica Michelle Angert
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(ANTHROPOLOGY)
December 2006
Copyright 2006 Erica Michelle Angert
Object Description
| Title | Hybrid networks and urban spaces in post-socialist Cuba |
| Author | Angert, Erica Michelle |
| Author email | angert@usc.edu |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Anthropology |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2006-10-17 |
| Date submitted | 2006 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2006-11-30 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Lutkehaus, Nancy |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Mattingly, Cheryl Hoskins, Janet Lawlor, Mary |
| Abstract | In this dissertation I argue that the profound crisis, known as the "Special Period" faced by the Cuban socialist state upon the disintegration of the Soviet Union created a series of unexpected opportunities for upward mobility among traditionally marginalized sectors of its urban population. Making a very efficient use of traditional practices and survival networks, members of these popular sectors were able to take full advantage of such opportunities. Their aggregated efforts were the engine behind the relative recovery of Cuban economic, social, and cultural life in the aftermath of the crisis. Now, the government is too weak to control the entire spectrum of socioeconomic life, but nonetheless remains strong enough to partially shield Cuban society from the influences of global capitalism. As a result, a new form of social organization is emerging. Cubans are creating a popular economy using a combination of strategies developed among previously marginalized communities in Havana, but eventually embraced and even legalized by many sectors of mainstream society. These include cooptation, translation, appropriation, and ultimate transformation of official policies, symbols, and discourses. Together, these parallel currents of cultural, socioeconomic, and political renovation amount to what could be considered the most radical social change in Cuba since the Revolution of 1959.; Fieldwork for this study was carried out among residents of a particular kind of low-income tenement known as a solar in the barrio of Cayo Hueso. The ambiguous role of the solar in Cuban cultural and political imaginaries provides a window into larger social issues, while the daily practices of its primarily Afro-Cuban inhabitants illuminates the creative potential of informal networks operating from within previously marginalized and impoverished communities. The individual chapters examine extended forms of kinship and the architectural logic of a solar, the complex synergy between public health and private healing, educational pathways available for young solar residents, the complementary role of formal and informal mechanisms of social control, and Santeria religious celebrations designed to improve the connections between living and deceased family members, providing further evidence of the ontological value and political significance of social networks and their hybridization. |
| Keyword | Havana; Healing; Santeria; Marginality; Social Change; Poverty |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m202 |
| Rights | Angert, Erica Michelle |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | http://www.usc.edu/isd/libraries/services/ask_a_librarian/email/ |
| Filename | etd-Angert-20061130 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume48/etd-Angert-20061130.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Full text | HYBRID NETWORKS AND URBAN SPACES IN POST-SOCIALIST CUBA by Erica Michelle Angert A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (ANTHROPOLOGY) December 2006 Copyright 2006 Erica Michelle Angert |
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