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The foremost conference on Cuban and Cuban-American Studies
will convene this week at FIU with scholars from around the globe
and a special emphasis on Cuban music.
FIU’s Cuban Research Institute, a unit of the Latin American
and Caribbean Center, organizes the four-day conference every
18 months. This year’s event, the fifth organized by the
Institute, will be the largest to date with 37 panels, more than
160 participants from Latin America, Europe, Asia and the U.S.
and a rich array of cultural programs.
The conference begins Wednesday, Oct. 29
and ends Saturday, Nov. 1 with most sessions in the Graham
Center Ballrooms at University Park. The theme, The Nation
Transnational, highlights the importance of the Cuban diaspora
in the nation’s identity.
“In the case of Cuba, political diasporas were significant
long before contemporary discourses on transnationalism, playing
major roles in the creation of the nation’s identity,” said
Damian Fernandez, director of the FIU Cuban Research Institute. “Certainly
the nation transnational plays an important role in Cuba now,
which will become even greater in the 21st century.”
The conference will include panels on literature,
fine arts, music, films, race, gender, environmental issues,
international relations, identity, religion, migration and
the diaspora. Among the panels will be “Whither Cuba? Regime and Transition
or Non-Transition in Comparative Perspective,” Wednesday,
Oct. 29 at 2 p.m. in the Graham Center Ballroom. Thursday, A
panel on “Musica y Cuba Transnacional” will be held
in the ballroom on Thursday, Oct. 30 at 4:15 p.m. A panel will
look at “The Transnational Role of the Catholic Church
in Cuba and Miami” at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 31 in the
West Ballroom.
At 4:15 p.m. on Friday, FIU professors Lisandro
Perez and Guillermo Grenier will give a presentation on their
new book, The Legacy of Exile. The U.S./Cuba Legal Forum will
give a presentation on the “Legal Connection between the United States and
Cuba” on Saturday, Nov. 1 at 8:30 a.m. in the Ballroom.
“The interdisciplinary nature of this conference gives
it a unique richness,” said Uva de Aragon, associate director
of the Cuban Research Institute. “There is no comparable
conference on Cuba.”
A variety of cultural activities will complement
the scholastic forums. In keeping with the theme, Cuba’s musical traditions
will celebrated throughout the conference as music represents
one of the most transnational dimensions of Cuban culture. On
Wednesday, Oct. 29, the Cristóbal Díaz-Ayala electronic
Encyclopedic Discography of Cuban Music, 1925-1960 will be presented
at 4 p.m. in the GC ballroom. The collection includes hundreds
of records from 1904 to the present. Several Cuban performers,
including pianist Zenaida Manfugás, mezzosoprano Marta
Pérez and singer Chamaco García, have been invited
to attend. The presentation is free and will be dedicated to
the memory of Celia Cruz.
The award-winning documentary Beyond
the Sea/ Más allá del
mar on the Mariel boat lift will be screened free in the GC ballroom
on Wednesday, Oct. 29 at 7:45 p.m. FIU alum Lisandro Perez-Rey
produced the documentary and this will be its first campus screening.
International classical guitarist Manuel Barrueco will perform
Thursday, Oct. 30 at 8 p.m. in A Salute to the Music of Cuba
at the Wertheim Concert Hall as part of the FIU Festival of Music.
Tickets may be purchased at the Wertheim Center box office or
by calling 305-348-1998.
The conference is free to FIU students, faculty and staff with
FIU identification. Registration at the door is $100 for the
entire conference or $25 for one day. Registration for non-FIU
students is $15. For more details on the conference panels and
cultural events, see http://lacc.fiu.edu/cri/ or call CRI at
305-348-1991.
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