Helen Parra L&S Arts & Humanities
An Intersectional Reassessment of Women in Cuba’s Literacy Campaign
Emerging from the early victories of the 1959 Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro addressed members of the United Nations in the fall of 1960 and announced his ambitious agenda for the upcoming year—an intense national literacy campaign aiming to teach reading and writing to every illiterate Cuban. Although the newly established socialist government was met with skepticism, the 1961 literacy campaign proved to be widely successful with Cuban literacy rate reportedly increasing to roughly 96% after progress in the campaign. The achievements of the literacy campaign were made possible by the mobilized efforts of a nation as Cuban youth, students, and urban residents united against illiteracy and volunteered as campaign workers. Women were at the frontlines of combating illiteracy, and their efforts comprised more than half of the literacy campaign volunteers. My research proposes a revisionist approach to what is often considered a triumph in Cuban revolutionary history by exploring how intersections of race, class, and gender affected women’s experiences in the campaign. My research aims to further the surfacing scholarship of the unresolved issues of race and class impacting Cuba today.
Message To Sponsor
Thank you to Anselm A&H for sponsoring my summer research project. I truly appreciate the opportunity I received to be able to travel to Havana and conduct historical research. This experience allowed me to form connections with research participants and introduced me to the fieldwork of a historian. My research trip was very educational and important in furthering my academic development. My experience in SURF has prepared me to continue working on my senior thesis, and it definitely reaffirmed my commitment to pursuing graduate school in the near future.