Maya Berry – “Rumberas on the Move: Lessons on the Choreography of Black Femininities in Havana”
Bio | Berry’s current research examines what existing movements toward black self-making in the contemporary “post-Fidel” era can teach us about the Cuban Revolution’s “updating” economic model and visions for its future. Contemporary Cuba is marked by the expansion of the private sector and the amplification of racialized class inequality. Black-identified collectives are responding to these conditions through a range of ideological repertoires, from market pragmatism to religious aesthetics. These movements are challenging modernist, nationalist paradigms of political action, as well as dominant narratives of “socialist” versus “capitalist”. Taken as a whole, Berry’s research explores the sacred and secular dimensions of black political lives in motion within and beyond state institutions.