Final Presentation

SIS Undergraduate Research Poster Conference

On Friday, April 20, 2018, I presented in the SIS Undergraduate Research Conference at the School of International Service, American University.

Mentor Post

On Thursday, March 8, 2018, Professor Brenner and I met for about an hour and discussed the operationalization of my variables and different data collection strategies. Dr. Brenner had many interesting ideas about how I could measure levels of external influence which I plan to include in the future of my research.  Dr. Brenner suggested that I could create a mix of trade, tourism, and official dialog to measure my external relations variable. For my next variable, Cuban economic strength, I suggested to Dr. Brenner that I could use GDP, but he suggests that change in GDP could be a more useful data set. When discussing my dependent variable Dr. Brenner suggested that I take into account more variables when measuring levels and acceptance of FDI. At first, I was simply planning on just measuring different business deals and FDI projects, however, Dr. Brenner suggested that I also look into the mentioning of foreign products in the official discourse. These suggestions are all very important for the data collection and analysis portion of my research.

Mentor Post

On Wednesday, February 7, 2018, Professor Brenner and I met for about an hour for the first time this semester to discuss the future of my research. We discussed some of the future paths my research can take in terms of methodology. We also addressed some of the different historical aspects that I have to take into account in my research like Cuba’s dual currency. Professor Brenner has since then sent me different articles to better understand the role of dual currency in my research area.

I presented Dr. Brenner with the idea of conducting a discourse analysis for my research in order to focus on the shift of official discourse. I got this idea from the Collective Advising Workshop, many professors noted that one of the most interesting aspects of my research question is the possible shift in discourse. The professors suggested that I look into a discourse analysis in order to have a complete focus on the official discourse of the Cuban government stance towards FDI. Dr. Brenner noted that I did have no need to conduct a discourse analysis in order to convey the importance or message of my research. By conducting a case-study approach I can still highlight the shift in government discourse with the right variable operationalization.

I also asked Dr. Brenner about different sources I can use to incorporate the popular discourse of the Cuban people. This is a rather fine line since many blogs centered around Cuba are solely focused on attacking or defending the Cuban government and there are very little non-partisan blogs. He did recommend I explore the blogs: OnCuba, Cuba Possible, Espacio Laical, CubaDebate, Temas, and explore different song lyrics of artist that comment on Cuba’s economy. I plan on utilizing most of these sources in a variable that measures the unofficial discourse in Cuba centered around the implementations of FDI.

RPP 6

For most of my life, I have naturally been inclined to read a text of marginalized communities due to my own identity. These historical writers who have been marginalized from the mainstream context of scholarship are often criticizing the establishment or pushing back against the norm. As someone who has had schooling in both an American and non-American (Cuban) context, I have had two different pieces of training when it comes to heterodoxy scholarship and activism in scholarship. Growing up, the premier scholar that ruled most of the schooling in Cuba is Jose Marti, a thinker and extremely revolutionary writer with a clear call for activism and nationalism. This is mostly because the nationalist message of his writings integrates well with many of Cuba’s current issues, while in an American context thinker like Hobbes and Locke make more sense for the American debates.

From these last two week’s readings and discussion, I often wondered if reparations for the scholarship is merited when the work of great thinkers is marginalized due to their temporal situation. On one hand, it is a very rational feeling to try to right the wrongs of the past and shine light onto those who were pushed in the darkness, at the same time however, there is the possibility to think that we are reflecting our own contemporary views onto the pass and in an attempt to balance the historical field we pay more information to thinkers that were not as influential as the mainstream thinkers. There were comments made in our class discussion that I agreed with the most, sentiments that argued that we must recognize the institutional disadvantages that existed in any given time which might have prevented the work of a scholar from being influential, but that doesn’t mean that we must shift the reality of those who really made an impact and decide to focus on them.

Ultimately, I would argue that it is not societies decision whether a historical character should be separated or not. We must continue to study the most influential and impactful scholarship to best understand the greater dialog, but we should always be aware of the marginalized scholarship and why such thinkers were marginalized. This framing helps my research because I am often questioning whether or not I should be focusing on sources from the “exile”, Cuban’s who live outside of Cuba and normally attack the Cuban government. So far in my work, I have worked almost exclusively on Cuban government sources because it is the most influential source and scholarship on the island. Many scholars are marginalized in Cuba for their political stances and therefore are not able to be as influential as those who are given the means to really create motions and change in my specific research. This debate has helped me understand how to frame the scholarship of those who are left outside the margins and allowed me to help justify my major focus of government sources.

Abstract

The world continues to become more and more connected place, especially in the field of trade and international investment. Cuba remains as one the last strongholds of Communist ideology in the 21st century, but the government has started to allow for more Foreign Direct Investment which brings the question as to what economic model Cuba will use in the future. The introduction of free market activities like FDI and also the growth of private markets has created a drastic shift in the identity of the Cuban economy. This shift has led me to the question and what does this change represent the ideological stance of the Cuban government? At the moment there is no one economic model that is similar to the current Cuban economic status, some scholars try to compare the Cuban model to the Chinese model but the Cuban economy does not have the market prowess and consumer power that the Chinese market hold. I will attempt to conduct a historical analysis using a case comparison using Mill’s method of difference, focusing on three distinct periods of the Cuban economy to try to provide an understanding as to what factors can lead to socialist actors partaking in free-market activities. These findings can be used to examine how economic actions by socialist states might show signs of lack of belief in communist economic ideas or show actions towards the economic survival of a state.

RPP #11

There are a number of factors that come to mind when reflecting on how and why I came to my topic. The clear frontrunner is my aspiration to study topics related to my identity as a Cuban, but the specific subject of FDI in Cuba came from an observation and conclusion that the allowance of FDI in Cuba contradicts many of the communist ideological values that the Cuban revolution expressed. Another reason for research is to explore and bring attention to the subject of international business negations that have existed outside of the new focus of business relations of Cuba and the U.S. after the thawing of relations. It is often forgotten that Cuba had been performing similar partnerships with countries other than the U.S. before the thawing of relations and I use this lesser known fact to motivate my research. I am also interested in bringing attention to how much Cuban government has changed in economic terms since the beginning of the revolution. I feel that although these reasons are heavily influenced by my personal background it would also fall into Aristotle idea of contributing to a “richer world” because it is intended to create more knowledge.

I feel like some of my motives have a clear interpretivist approach since some of my motivations are to find a change in dialog but I have decided to pursue a Neo-Positivist Case Study approach because I feel that the best to explore changes and growth of FDI in Cuba is by analyzing the subject using eras to compare and contrast them. This approach still allows me to analyze the change in dialogue. I think that my research makes the normative assumption that the inclusion of Cuba in FDI is key to a less oppressive and ideologically different Cuban government.

In all, the ultimate goal is help create a broader understanding of the context of business negotiations in Cuba. Many times, any type of dealings with the Cuban government are politically charged, but this also comes with an emotional charge that often leads actors blind.

RPP #10 Final Mentor Meeting

On Monday, December 11, 2017, at 11:00 am, Professor Phillip Brenner and I met for about two hours for the final time of this academic semester. We discussed some current events of Cuba, his upcoming trip conference trip, and what the political future of Cuba holds. We also discussed my year in terms of research; I told him my puzzle, the presence of FDI in Cuba, and walked him through my small-n case study design.

Prof. Brenner agreed with me that Foreign Direct Investment is a very interesting and important topic to cover when it comes to Cuba. When I presented him with my design he made a number of great suggestions that would benefit my research. First, he suggested that for my cases I should include an era case prior to the revolution to provide an interesting comparison to the current Cuban economy to see just how much it has shrunk or grown. This would make for an interesting perspective and would add to the conversation of the current literature.

Professor Brenner also suggested that for 306 I focus on a specific economic sector, like agriculture or tourism, as this would make my research more concise and easier to develop. I am still considering this as an option, but for my Final Narrative Paper, I will probably continue to choose an expansive topic that covers all the economic sectors that engage with FDI and then in 306 I may choose to narrow down my subject down depending on what sector I find most interesting.

I will definitely take Prof. Brenner’s comments and apply them to my final narrative paper and bring some of the ideas up for my considerations for my 306 research. I am very fortunate to have Prof. Brenner as my mentor and I look forward to using him more as a source next year because of his access to old Cuban government documents that could be beneficial to my research.

 

 

 

Final Research Presentation

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).