Portable Postsocialisms: New Cuban Mediascapes after the End of History

A study of Cuban culture and media in the twenty-first century, exploring how it is both a global phenomenon and a local reality. It argues that Cubas changing media cultures are key to understanding the global postsocialist condition and its competing political imaginaries. The book uses a multimedia archive to offer a cultural interpretation of Cuban postsocialism, focusing on songs, artworks, advertisements, memes, literature, jokes, and networks that refuse exceptionalist and exoticizing visions of Cuba. It expands postsocialist critical theory to account for Cubans everyday demands for agency and self-representation. The study redefines how we envision imaginaries of social change in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Format: Hardback
Length: 296 pages
Publication date: 15 January 2024
Publisher: University of Texas Press

A comprehensive exploration of Cuban culture and media in the twenty-first century, encompassing their global phenomenon and local realities, occurs at a juncture where the proclaimed demise of socialism coexists with the emergence of anticapitalist movements across the world. This groundbreaking study posits that Cubas evolving media cultures hold the key to understanding the global postsocialist condition and its competing political imaginaries.

Portable Postsocialisms: A Cultural Interpretation of Cuban Postsocialism delves into a vast multimedia archive to provide a groundbreaking cultural interpretation of Cuban postsocialism. Paloma Duong meticulously examines a range of artistic expressions, including songs, artworks, advertisements, memes, literature, jokes, and networks, which challenge exceptionalist and exoticizing narratives about Cuba. By expanding postsocialist critical theory to encompass this complex media landscape, Duong argues that a materialist critique of Cubas revolutionary legacy must account for Cubans everyday demands for agency and self-representation. This long overdue reassessment of Cubas place in Latin American and post-Marxist studies establishes Cuban postsocialism as an urgent and indispensable referent for core debates on the politics of participatory cultures in new media studies.

Portable Postsocialisms not only redefines our understanding of imaginaries of social change in Latin America and the Caribbean but also performs a crucial task of shaping our perspectives on these regions. By shedding light on the complex interplay between global forces and local realities, this study contributes to a more nuanced and empathetic understanding of the world. It serves as a valuable resource for scholars, researchers, and policymakers seeking to navigate the complexities of postsocialism and its impact on societies around the globe.

Weight: 580g
Dimension: 162 x 237 x 29 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781477328262