ICS Seminar Series – Anna Pertierra

Date: Thursday 21 April 2016
Time: 11.30am–1pm
Venue: EB.2.02, Western Sydney University, Parramatta South campus

Anna Cristina Pertierra

(Western Sydney University)

Cuba Connect: Social Media and Digital Practices in an Era of 'Normalisation'

Abstract

Drawing from ethnographic research over the past thirteen years on the media practices of Cubans and their relatives abroad, this presentation seeks to make sense of recent changes in Cuban policy and their impact upon the everyday lives of urban citizens. For more than twenty years now, the Cuban revolution has taken on new forms in the wake of Soviet collapse. Partial market reforms have been combined with the maintenance of state socialism and a reorientation of diplomatic relations towards Latin America and China, as the nation has attempted to withstand ongoing trade sanctions and political pressure from the United States. But over the past year, this post-Soviet political landscape seems to be changing, with tentative but symbolically significant reforms in both the United States and Cuba inching both countries towards what is problematically described in the US press as the 'normalization' of relations between both countries.

Having outlined this context and its implications for media and communication among Cubans over the past decade, the paper will focus on two aspects of contemporary digital practices in Cuba: 1) Cuba's relative isolation from the internet has led to the rise of alternative media networks, most notably the 'Paquete' or package, in which weekly media content is distributed via hard drive; and 2) Recent installation of wifi networks in public spaces are indicative of the Cuban government's conception of online access as a community rather than an individual resource. These examples of how social networks enable digital practices offer a corrective to prevailing misconceptions about the Cuban communications landscape, but also suggest how the Cuban example may help us reflect upon broader questions in media and communications scholarship.

Biography

Anna Cristina Pertierra is a Senior Lecturer in Cultural and Social Analysis at Western Sydney University. Her research uses ethnography to examine everyday social practice, with a particular interest in media, consumption and material culture, and urban modernities. Regionally, her work focuses on Cuba, Mexico and the Philippines. Recent publications include, with Graeme Turner, Locating Television: zones of consumption (Routledge 2013) and Cuba: the struggle for consumption (Caribbean Studies Press 2011), in addition to an edited volume with John Sinclair, Consumer Culture in Latin America (Palgrave Macmillan 2013). Prior to joining Western Sydney University, Anna was a Lecturer in Anthropology and an ARC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies, both at the University of Queensland.