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About

 

We are a group of academics with long histories of studious engagement with Cuban affairs. In recent times, many have called for making scholarship relevant to current events and for it to bear on every day understandings of the social world. We are responding to this call at a time of rapid change in US/Cuban relations, and after a long stagnation in the two countries’ mutual dynamics for over half a century. We have a lot to say and to share: to policy-makers, to travelers, to students, and to all those with an interest in Cuba as well as in current events. We come from different disciplines in the arts, the humanities and the social sciences, and aim to show that knowledge, differently from expertise, does not only serve to zero in an issue, but to open it up through different perspectives.

Counterpoint was the term that Cuba’s foremost cultural thinker and anthropologist Fernando Ortiz borrowed from popular music to think of the central role that commodities like tobacco and sugar had in shaping society and, eventually, a nation. Counterpoint is the act, and art, of dialogue through contradiction and opposition; of controversial and creative confrontation among ideas, people, things, and the environment. It is intrinsic to social and cultural change.

Our own counterpoints are both idealist and material: we seek to put forth well-grounded perspectives without shying away from debate. We seek to join in public debates as well as explore new ideas, new counterpoints.

Cuban Counterpoints is the public face of a scholarly community. It is a project linked to EthnoCuba, a network/group of Cubanist academics that includes residents from over fifteen countries, including Cuba and the United States.

Cuba Counterpoints is an OPEN ACCESS publication that protects its authors and itself from piracy.  You may access it, link it, and use it for educational purposes and within educational settings (i.e. a college course) without permission. We would, however, appreciate it if you share with us any course syllabus that includes our material.

Cuba Counterpoints is also a  “light” peer-review publication. All articles are reviewed by at least one member of the editorial board, prior to publication, and revisions might be recommended.

Finally, Cuba Counterpoints is a project of CCounterpoints, Inc., a non-profit organization incorporated in the State of Florida.

OUR GRATITUDE

We wish to extend our deep gratitude to the following individuals:  
Linda Rodríguez, as instigator and co-founder,
Alejandro Barreras for the elegant logo and symbol,
Ernesto Oroza for his expert advice.

and to our interns:
Jimena Codina (2015)
Abigail Nixon (2015)

and to our authors, translators, copy editors, illustrators and photographers,

and to the institutions that have supported and continue to support our work over time:

NORLARNET (2015)

TULANE UNIVERSITY  CUBAN AND CARIBBEAN STUDIES INSTITUTE (2015-present)

NORWEGIAN SOCIAL RESEARCH – NOVA (2016)

AC JOURNEYS (2016)

CENTRO CULTURAL ESPAÑOL DE MIAMI (2016)