The Cuban Research Institute (CRI) of Florida International University is pleased to welcome four new threatened Cuban scholars in the humanities for the fall semester of 2024. The scholars are Carolina Barrero, an art historian currently living in Spain; Katherine Bisquet, a poet also resident in Spain; Marialina García Ramos, an anthropologist living in Mexico; and Camila Lobón, a visual artist based in the U.S. Each of the fellows will work on a scholarly, artistic, or cultural project while in residence at CRI.
The Cuban government has a long history of conflict with independent intellectuals, including artists, writers, academics, and journalists. In April 2018, clashes between the government and intellectuals intensified with the passage of Decree 349, a law that restricts artists’ freedom of expression and requires them to obtain permission from the government to perform in both public and private spaces.
A collective of artists, journalists, and academics, known as the San Isidro Movement, was formed in Havana in September 2018 to protest against the law. Since then, numerous intellectuals have been harassed, arrested, imprisoned, or expelled from Cuba because of their dissident political beliefs and activities.
CRI is grateful to the Mellon Foundation for funding the first comprehensive program in the United States for Cuban intellectuals who face severe threats to their work on the island, because of their ideas, public interventions, or participation in peaceful demonstrations.
The Mellon fellowships will offer a generous stipend and financial aid to relocate temporarily to Miami. In addition, CRI will provide office space, access to a computer and printer, the Internet and the FIU library, and general administrative assistance.
The four Mellon Visiting Fellows participated in a panel discussion on “Art, Censorship, and Resistance in Cuba,” held at FIU on September 13. The fellows shared and discussed their experiences with repression and state persecution in Cuba. They were joined by Lía Villares, a filmmaker based in the U.S. who received a Mellon Visiting Fellowship during the fall semester of 2023. Tania Bruguera, a professor in the Department of Art, Film and Visual Studies at Harvard University, served as discussant.