Cuban Youth of the Special Period: Constructing Their Dreams

• In Event: Educating the New Century Cuban Citizen

Abstract

Cuba has seen 30% of its youth, ages 35 and under, leave the country, while the percentage seniors, age 60 and above, is increasing. Keeping young people on the island presents a serious challenge to fill labor needs and lead the country. This concern begs the questions: In what ways is socialism (and what type of socialism is it?) being cultivated and maintained in Cuban in the context of market changes? What are the aspirations and ideological mindsets of young people? This study is based on interviews with Cuban youth ages 16-35. Interviews focused on career and educational aspirations, political participation, values and beliefs. Findings reveal that while all levels of education are free of cost, opportunities for guaranteed employment are shrinking while competition is increasing, creating a new concern—unemployment—a rarity in socialist societies. Access to rewarding jobs and equity are diminishing under the new economy, causing young people to question and creatively resolve their professions and career interests, and question the government that has created these dilemmas.

Conceptually, this study about youth identity takes an ethnographic approach. Anthropology provides an ethnographic methodology and grounded theories of culture that infuse the research on citizenship education (Hall, 2002; Luykx 1999; Nader 1995; Benhabib 1996). Engaged with questions of political order, an evolving market economy and critical theoretical discourses, this study reveals the challenges of political and vocational participation for Cuban youth, highlighting new understandings of "citizenship."

Author

• Denise F Blum, Oklahoma State University