CSULB Students, and Faculty Members Set To Take Historic
Visit to Cuba
Four Cal State Long Beach (CSULB)
faculty members will lead 25 students on a historic visit to Cuba from March
23 to April 1 as part of a collaboration between the university’s Department
of Romance/German/Russian Languages and Literatures’ (RGRLL) Spanish
program and the Department of Chicano and Latino Studies.
The first visit to the country by a CSULB class since 2006,
the trip will include a tour of Havana
that will feature visits to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, the Centro
Memorial to Martin Luther King and the Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina.
“Trips to Cuba
had been cancelled by many educational institutions, including CSULB, because
of very strict conditions issued by the Department of the Treasury,” explained
RGRLL Professor Claire Martin. “Since the rules have been relaxed, we are
conducting our first trip (with) 25 CSULB students who will be able to
experience and witness the interesting changes taking place in Cuba as it
opens its economic system.”
Interest in the Cuba
trip began when Victor Rodriguez, associate professor of Chicano and Latino
studies, approached Martin and RGRLL Professor Bonnie Gasior with the idea of
promoting a Cuba
trip to their Spanish majors and minors.
“I am the director of a program that used to be supported by
IRA funds, ‘The Latino Transnational Experience in the Caribbean.’
Under this program, we carried out four previous trips to Cuba, but our
last trip was in 2006. Since then, we have been traveling to the Dominican Republic and Puerto
Rico,” noted Rodriguez, who will be joined on the trip by fellow
Chicano Studies Professor Jose Moreno. “Since the regulations were
relaxed earlier this year, we decided to resume the travel to Cuba. We thought this would
be a great opportunity to extend our collaboration with the RGRLL Department,
and we decided to make it a joint effort. The response has been
overwhelming.”
Gaisor added, “We realized immediately that going to Cuba
represented a great opportunity for our students and for us. As advisors,
we know our students well, and we’re eager to share this experience with them,”
she said. “This is the kind of trip they will remember for the rest of
their lives.”
The braiding together of the two courses carried special
challenges. Two classes were scheduled at the same time on Mondays so
that both cohorts of students could work together.
“When Dr. Rodriguez lectures about the historical context of
the Cuban revolution, both groups will get a chance to hear it,” Martin
said. “They will both read foundational literature about Cuban culture
such as Columbus’ first descriptions of Cuba. The
two groups will meet and discuss the texts together and read secondary
sources. Unfortunately, not all the students enrolled in the two classes
will go on the trip because Cuban accommodations offer space for just 25
students – period.”
Martin also pointed out that all participating students are
bilingual. “They all speak Spanish,” she said. “They will be able
to have direct communication with the people of Cuba without any kind of mediation
or interference by government or media. There is the possibility of real,
unfiltered communication between the students and Cubans.
“Their perspective on the country will carry the authority
of someone who has actually been to Cuba and who has seen firsthand how
people live,” she continued. “I’m sure our students will be critical of
what they see in Cuba.
There’s plenty to be critical of. But the goal of this university and of
this course is to promote critical thinking, and I am certain the students will
come back with a critical eye, both for Cuba and for their own country.”
Both Martin and Gasior are pleased with what the students
will see in Havana,
believing the students will be interested in these sites because of their
cultural and historical significance.
“Look at the significance of the Escuela Latinoamericana de
Medicina to the Cuban people. The school offers free medical instruction
for all Latin Americans who must then return to their countries of origin and
practice for two years,” Martin noted. “The Museo Nacional de Bellas
Artes is one of the best museums of its kind in Latin
America.”
This is the first visit to Cuba for both faculty
members. Gasior has traveled extensively through Latin America and
anticipates a degree of culture shock in separating the media images of Cuba from the
real thing.
“Cuba
is kind of a question mark for me but I’m very excited about going,” she
said. “I’m eager to talk with the Cuban people, but I’m also eager to
watch our students. I’ve seen our students go abroad before and it’s an
amazing sight. There is always a moment of epiphany when the student
discovers something they never thought about before.”
Their primary hope is that their students gain a new
awareness of the world and their own country from their Cuban journey.
“Cuba
has been a four-letter word to the average American for 50 years,” Gasior said.
“I am confident, however, that our students will return from their time
abroad with a more positive image of Cuba. It depends on what each
student wants to get out of the experience.
I hope they come away with a
greater awareness of everything from Cuban heritage to Cuban cuisine.”
Rodriguez hopes his students take advantage of Cuba at a
historic turning point. “Cuba
is in the midst of liberalizing its economic (in some sense parts of its
political system), so we will have the unique opportunity to see a society
changing without the kind of turmoil (until now) that we have seen in the Arab
Spring,” he said. “I hope our students will value their experience of
another Latino culture.”
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