Politics and Civil Society in Cuba

The Sparks of Civil Society in Cuba: Afro-Cuban Cultural Production, Art Collectives, and

Considering the work of cultural producers and artists who have

insisted on the right to enter the public sphere through their diverse

forms of expression, I suggest that all of this does in fact “count” as

civil society. It represents a vibrant force for creating new spaces in

the public sphere, providing a means to raise critical questions about

Cuban society and initiate public debates in contemporary Cuban

society that are relevant to large sectors of the population. All of these

efforts have provided the sparks for energizing a movement toward

civil society and the expansion of the public sphere in Cuba. Within a

contested social and political ground, an emancipatory civil society is

taking shape.

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