POLITICS, CARE AND UNCERTAINTY IN CONTEMPORARY CUBA

Authors

• Heidi Härkönen University of Helsinki

Keywords:

Cuba, socialism, post-socialism, politics, care, uncertainty, state power, economic crisis, paternalism

Abstract

Losing its closest socialist ally, the Soviet Union, launched Cuba into a severe economic and political crisis that forced the state to make several concessions to its earlier ideals. State services and contributions to the population were severely cut, the country was opened to international tourism and day-to-day life became increasingly monetised, favouring some whilst marginalising others. Expectations of the crisis were that it would create widespread popular resistance to the state. Drawing on ethnographic evidence from contemporary Havana, this report explores how individuals relate to Cuba’s current state discourse in the context of the island’s recent political and economic transformations. The dynamics between large-scale developments and individuals’ everyday lives is approached through the notion of dialectics of care, which highlights the multifaceted relationships that people maintain with state institutions, whilst simultaneously finding inventive ways to negotiate the continuing political and economic precarity.