A Cultural History of the Cuban Revolution: Power, Hegemony and the Pursuit of Independent Voices

This is a panoramic, chronological account of the cultural history of the Cuban Revolution from 1959 until 2022, examining Cuban revolutionary culture and the control of it by the state. It presents a global account of the historical-cultural evolution of the Revolution from its beginning (1959) until 2022.

This text is conceived as a cultural history guide book about one of the most significant and controversial historical events in Latin America in the 20th and 21st centuries, using the most relevant and up to date sources possible. Its authors are renowned specialists in Cuban cultural themes both in Great Britain and in Cuba, who have published widely on Cuban cultural issues over the last 10 years.

The usual focus on Cuban culture is on one or more of its many manifestations – for example the study of cinema, literature, music, performance within the Revolution – but without really being able to fully understand the true historical dimension of the island’s cultural output and how this output is controlled by the revolutionary government. However, the panoramic and global-historical features of this book, as well as its theoretical and methodological analysis of culture in the Revolution, make this a unique study both inside and outside Cuba.

So, it is a chronological account of censorship and the control of culture in the Revolution. Of how the Cuban state has controlled cultural production and distribution and of how artists/cultural producers have responded to that control. Each chapter will look at a specific period in the revolution. It considers the political/cultural context of that period and the significant events within that period related to culture and state control of it.