June 10, 2003 - 5:00 PM
Panelist:
- Marifeli Perez-Stable
Florida International University - Elzbieta Matynia
Transregional Center for Democratic Studies
Moderator:
- Mauricio Font
Director Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies
Marifeli Pérez-Stable is a professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Florida International University in Miami. In fall 2003, she will be a fellow at the Kellogg Institute at the University of Notre Dame. She is the author of The Cuban Revolution: Origins, Course and Legacy (Oxford University Press, 1993; 2nd edition 1999); a Spanish-language edition was published by Editorial Colibrí (Madrid, 1998). Her work in progress, “Cuba’s Long Twentieth Century (1868–2002),” proposes a political reinterpretation of Cuban history. Dr. Pérez-Stable chaired the Task Force “Memory, Truth, and Justice,” which issued the report, Cuban National Reconciliation. Her talk will address the report’s main themes and recommendations: the imperative of a democratic Cuba for full national reconciliation; the need to begin reintegrating disparate historical memories; and the pursuit of dialogue among all Cubans to the extent possible. Establishing the truth about human rights violations by the Cuban government, abuses by the armed opposition in Cuba and in exile, and the actions of the United States in Cuba is essential. The report concludes outlining four aspects of national reconciliation: individual; family, diaspora; and political.
See http://memoria.fiu.edu for the full report in Spanish and English. English-language copies will be available the day of the presentation.
Elzbieta Matynia is a sociologist whose major fields are intellectual history, political philosophy, and the sociology of culture. Since 1986 she teaches at the Graduate Faculty where she is also the Director of the Transregional Center for Democratic Studies. Her works include a book of essays entitled “Grappling with Democracy: Deliberations on Post-Communist Societies”, 1990–1995; “Finding a Voice: Women in Post-Communist Central Europe”, in The Challenges of Local Feminisms: Women’s Movements in Global Perspective (Westview Press, 1995), “Furnishing Democracy”, in Eastern European Politics and Society, 2000, and other writings on society, culture, and politics which appeared in variety of scholarly journals in America and Europe.