RPP 9
For my interpretivist research approach, I am proposing that I explore the social practice of entrepreneurialism in Cuba. This is a practice that I can expand over time which has a number of different discourses and actors. For a long time, this practice was illegal in Cuba and laws were put in place to discourage average Cubans from participating in this social practice. I want to specifically look at entrepreneurs in the private restaurant businesses. Cuban privately owned restaurants are locally known as “paladares” because that was the name of a private restaurant chain in the popular 1990s Brazilian soup opera Vale Todo (Anything Goes). The soap opera was one of the driving forces for the increase of private restaurants in Cuba during the 1990’s.
I plan to look at the Ordinance-Law 174 of the Council of State set in place in 1997 which directly attacked the private restaurant sector. This ordinance set up a fining system, prohibiting privately owned restaurants to serve things like red meat and seafood and also prohibited “paladares” from accepting foreign currency.[1] These new prohibitions were put in place to harm business from tourists to these private establishments. During the 1990’s the Cuban government-owned restaurants faced hard competition from “paladares” which are mostly food establishments inside of people’s homes. This ordinance was updated in 2010 by Raul Castro. Fines were still kept in place for private restaurants that operated without proper documentation but some of the articles, like the ones prohibiting the sale of shellfish and red meat, were reversed.[2]
My next steps in this research would be to research the other non-official discourses that the Cuban government has engaged in about the social practice of entrepreneurialism in Cuba. I plan to explore official state newspapers post and official speeches. I also want to investigate the discourse of the entrepreneurs themselves. This discourse may be limited however since there were not any official independent newspapers in Cuba during the time when the Cuban state targeted ‘paladares’ with these fines. I have, however, found different social discourse in music that was critical towards these government regulations and some art as well.
[1] Roberto Cespedes, “Regulan Autoridades Cubanas El Trabajo Por Cuenta Propia,” Reforma (Mexico City, November 11, 1997).
[2] “DECRETOS-LEYES, DECRETO, ACUERDOS Y RESOLUCIONES” (Consejo de Ministros de Cuba, October 2010).
This is a very good start, Luis! You’ve given some thought to the wide range of texts that you could examine to understand how the practice of entrepreneurialism has been constructed and how the meanings around that practice have changed over time. The question of how to access the discourse from the entrepreneurs themselves is an interesting one, but I think the idea of looking for clues in that broader social discourse is a good idea. I wonder if any kind of reporting from NGOs or other such groups active in Cuba might also provide information on that aspect of the discourse. Keep reading and researching — I look forward to seeing how your research develops in this new methodology!