The problematic of identity-memory in the Cuban-American fiction of Cristina García and Achy Obejas

Cuban-American authors Cristina García and Achy Obejas denote in their fictional works concerns regarding the fragmented memory of second-generation Cuban-American immigrants. Owing to the turbulent political origin of this exiled community, the characters of these works have identity conflicts related to the difficulty of accessing the historical memory of their ancestors’ land and community. However, as the narratives progress, the source of these conflicts proves to be the nationalist approach to identification which they end up challenging by relating themselves to history, memory, and identity in alternative postnational ways. The protagonists of these works, thus, contest traditional postulates in the study of memory like those of Maurice Halbwachs, who believed that the historical memory of a nation had an important role in determining the individual’s identity.

The Luis Medina Archive at The Art Institute of Chicago

This applied thesis project details the processing of photographic materials and ephemera collectively referred to in this report as the “Luis Medina Archive,” housed at the Art Institute of Chicago since the death of Cuban-American photographer Luis Medina in 1985. This collection of materials has never been accessioned into the permanent collection of the AIC and has remained in bureaucratic limbo for most of its life at the museum. The contents of the archive were undocumented in the records of the Department of Photography and were functionally inaccessible for research and study. To address this issue, my project took an inventory of the 22,000+ objects in the archive; created a database to house the results of this inventory; and provided a recommendation of a selection of prints and materials to add to the permanent collection. This project resulted in the addition of 101 prints to the permanent collection.

The Luis Medina Archive at The Art Institute of Chicago

This applied thesis project details the processing of photographic materials and ephemera collectively referred to in this report as the “Luis Medina Archive,” housed at the Art Institute of Chicago since the death of Cuban-American photographer Luis Medina in 1985. This collection of materials has never been accessioned into the permanent collection of the AIC and has remained in bureaucratic limbo for most of its life at the museum. The contents of the archive were undocumented in the records of the Department of Photography and were functionally inaccessible for research and study. To address this issue, my project took an inventory of the 22,000+ objects in the archive; created a database to house the results of this inventory; and provided a recommendation of a selection of prints and materials to add to the permanent collection. This project resulted in the addition of 101 prints to the permanent collection.

Dictatorship, Machismo, and the Cuban Exile Drama in a Tragicomic Mode: Cristina García’s King of Cuba

"Dictatorship, Machismo, and the Cuban Exile Drama in a Tragicomic Mode: Cristina García’s King of Cuba. Three years before the death of Fidel Castro, Cuban American author Cristina García published a fictional account of the Cuban dictator’s death in a darkly funny and sentimental story of intertwined destinies, ironies of fate, machismo, failure and suffering. With El Comandante and a fellow octogenarian émigré as protagonists, García launches into a fictional exploration of Cuban masculinity, machismo, the dictator’s fate, vanity, and failure. Written in what I will argue is a tragicomic mode, balancing the tragic and the comic, the horrendous and the laughable, the pitiful and the ridiculous, the novel reflects different perspectives on sensitive topics for Cubans on both sides of the Florida Straits, challenging preconceived ideas and inviting the reader to reflect on the relativity of truth. Keywords: Fidel Castro, dictatorship, machismo, Cuban American community, satire, tragicomic mode "

Digital Resources: Tulane University’s Collection of Cuban American Radionovelas, 1963–1970

The Latin American Library (LAL) at Tulane University is the repository for the Louis J. Boeri and Minín Bujones Boeri Collection of Cuban American Radionovelas (hereafter, Radionovelas Collection). The physical collection contains 8,934 individual reel-to-reel tapes containing audio recordings produced by Boeri’s Miami-based America’s Production Inc. (API). Boeri founded API in 1961 to create and license radio programming to serve an expanding commercial market of Spanish-language audiences across Latin America, Europe, and the United States. Boeri employed some of the best writing, acting, musical, and technical talent in the business, most of whom were recent emigres from Cuba, the wider Caribbean, and Mexico. API’s radio soap operas went silent after the company closed in 1970 and as the listening public and commercial sponsors increasingly turned to television for serialized entertainment. The LAL began a multiphase initiative in 2015 to digitize its aged audio tapes. With generous support from the Latin American Research Resources Project (LARRP) of the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) and the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), the LAL converted one third of the collection’s audio recordings to digital. Beginning in 2020, forty-one of API’s “soaps,” most in their entirety, are accessible via a digital collection in the Tulane University Digital Library (TUDL). Available in the digital collection are programs that span multiple genres with titles like Agente Secreto 009 [Secret Agent 009]; La Hora de Misterio [Mystery Hour]; and Amarga Espera [Bitter Awaiting]. API print materials including advertising, program catalogs, and company photographs will also appear in digital. The Radionovelas Collection offers new perspectives and insights into the use of media for Cold War political and cultural propaganda by Cuba and the United States. It also provides a public resource to engage with and research the history of popular culture, sonic literature, and mass media among Spanish-speaking audiences all over the world.