A lucky group of MTSU students is preparing now for an experience not many Americans will ever have in their lifetimes.
From May 26 through June 16, 2012, Ric Morris, professor of Spanish and director of Project Cuba, will take several students to Havana for an intensive three-week immersion in Cuban history, language and culture.
They’ll spend their first week in the capital city of Havana in a customized course about Cuba, including field trips to the Museum of the Revolution and the Independent Artists’ Studio, taught by faculty associated with the University of Havana.
They’ll spend their second and third weeks in a Spanish-language program at the university with students from around the world.
“Almost invariably, they tell me that it was the trip of a lifetime, that there was nothing else like it that they’ve ever done,” Morris said of the students he has accompanied on prior Cuban excursions. “I think it’s the combination of the mystique of being in Cuba, the excitement of being some place few Americans ever visit, the idea that it’s so different from what we’re used to here in the United States and so different from anything that they’re likely to experience again.”
With a decades-old trade embargo between the United States and its Caribbean island neighbor still in effect, there have been few attempts at détente, even after the collapse of Cuba’s closest ally, the Soviet Union, in 1991.
However, since the leadership transition from the ailing Fidel Castro to his brother, Raul, Cuba has been inching from a Soviet socialist economic model toward a mixed economy.
For example, Raul Castro’s regime has entirely abolished the Ministry of Sugar and replaced it with private enterprise.
More recently, the younger Castro has opened his nation’s state-run banking system to providing small businesses with loans.
Observers seem to think these initial steps are less an ideological move toward American-style democracy than a pragmatic survival tactic, but, for whatever reasons, they are being implemented.
“I think the government is realizing a little bit of both central control and free-market capitalism is ultimately what’s going to help the country through its version of the recession,” Morris said.
A veteran of six trips to Cuba, Morris says one Cuban woman told him that Cubans have always felt closer to Americans than to Russians, even during the Cold War.
According to this woman, Cubans pay little attention to European movies on television, but if an American movie airs on TV, many people stay home to watch it that the streets of Havana are quiet.
These unique circumstances make the opportunity for Americans to visit Cuba at this time more intriguing than ever, especially since U.S. policy after the 2012 presidential election is a huge question mark.
And each student in this particular MTSU contingent will benefit from a $500 subsidy and a tuition scholarship equivalent to approximately 25 percent of summer tuition for anyone who regularly pays in-state tuition.
The 2012 class is full, but Morris said he hopes to keep this one-of-a-kind study-abroad experience going for future students.
For more information, contact Morris at 615-898-2284 or rmorris@mtsu.edu. |
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