Hybridizing "The Holy Space": The Cultures of Unity and Dissent in the Cuban Media

• In Event: ICA Plenary Interactive Paper/Poster Session II
  In Interactive Paper Session: Global Communication and Social Change Interactive Paper Session

Abstract

Much has been reported about the economic reforms currently underway in Cuba under the leadership of Raul Castro. Although the state continues to assert significant regulatory authority through licensure and taxation, certain swaths of the Cuban economy that were previously administered solely by the state are now operating in response to market variables. One sector of the economy conspicuously exempt from these processes of economic liberalization is Cuba’s state-run media. Understanding media production and consumption as sites of cultural contestation, this paper seeks to investigate the state of the contemporary Cuban media, including its political commitments and cultural imperatives. Based upon structured in-person interviews with key informants within the Cuban government, the paper seeks to address the central research question of whether, and in what ways, the Cuban government’s continued pursuit of its revolutionary national identity is jeapordized by the changing economic and cultural logics of Cuba’s media system.

Author

• Mark Princi Hannah, U of Southern California - Annenberg School for Communication