Session Abstract

The Cuban Revolution, both in its formative stages before 1959 and in its institutionalized state after, has been uniquely significant in the history of the Caribbean and Latin America in general.  The revolution was an extraordinarily complicated process, situated at the national, regional, and international levels and involving great and small powers alike over the course of more than five decades.  In addition, since at least the 1960s a mythology has been carefully crafted related essentially to Fidel Castro and the revolution in the mountains of Eastern Cuba as the central element of the Cuban revolution.  The session will include viewing segments of recent documentary films on Cuba produced by Glenn Gebhard, Juan Santamarina and others and a panel and audience discussion around the themes of "visualizing the Cuban revolution" and recent research into the complexities of it.  In addition, the panel will address the question of how a documentary can make such a complicated and overwhelming topic suitable and intelligible to a broader, non-specialist audience.