Break, Continuity, and Transformation: A Nietzschean approach to history as seen through the politics of memory in Revolutionary and Contemporary Cuba
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2012
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Haverford College. Department of Political Science
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Thesis
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Award
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eng
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Haverford users only
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Abstract
This thesis looks back at the revolution through a theoretical, historical and political lens. It argues that in order fully comprehend the Cuban revolution and Cuba as a whole, we must stop sidelining or dismissing the origins of the revolution itself and rather integrate the analysis of Cuba prior to the triumph of the revolution into the modern profile of Cuba. In so doing, it tries to capture the time that Benitez-Rojo asserts resists being captured. The central hypothesis of this study intends to demonstrate and analyze the notion that parts of this—many times overlooked—history were carefully selected and invoked to influence national politics during the revolutionary regime. In order to help us do that, I have used Nietzsche's take on history as seen through his essay, On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life. His work will serve as a theoretical framework that will help us grasp a better understanding of the modes of history that were continuously invoked throughout the revolutionary narrative as a way to impel the revolution forward. Through this analysis I intend to shine some light on the way that the memory politics used in the past became contested with the collapse of the Soviet bloc and implosion of the Soviet Union and even more, with the recent liberalized economic and political practices taking place in the island since 2008 when Fidel Castro's illness led him to officially cede the baton to his brother, Raul.