Democracy and time in Cuban thought : the elusive present / by María de los Angeles Torres.

9781683404217 electronic book
1683404211 electronic book
9781683404101 electronic book
1683404106 electronic book
9781683404026 hardcover
9781683404262 paperback

Gainesville : University of Florida Press, 2024.

©2024

English

1 online resource

JL1016 .T67 2024

POL057000 POL010000

320.47291

"In this analysis of political discourse in Cuban culture, María de los Angeles Torres focuses on how the concept of time has been employed by different political projects, arguing that an emphasis on human actions in the present is important for a democratic political culture"-- Provided by publisher.
"How the temporalities of past, future, and present have been used in Cuban political rhetoric and expressed in Cuban culture. In this fascinating analysis of political discourse in Cuban culture, María de los Angeles Torres focuses on how the concept of time has been employed by different political projects. While the past and future are often evoked in rhetoric associated with authoritarianism, Torres argues, an emphasis on human actions in the present is important for a more democratic political culture, and she searches over a century of Cuban thought for this perspective. Delving into political texts and essays, literature, and art, Torres puts theories of temporalities in conversation with the Cuban experience. Torres closely examines the use of time and its political implications in Fidel Castro's "History Will Absolve Me" speech, the writings of Jose Martí and Che Guevara, the poetry of Eliseo Diego and the Orígenes group, and paintings by Cuban exiles Nereida García Ferraz and María Martínez-Cañas. Recent events in Cuba have placed the search for democracy and social justice center stage, and Torres also studies the temporalities underpinning these movements, asking whether these projects are providing alternatives to overused past and future tropes. She suggests ways of thinking for today's activists, encouraging them to remember history and imagine new possibilities while cultivating space for human agency now.Publication of this work made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities"-- Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

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Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on January 26, 2024).

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