Working Papers 2007: Havana

Join us for drinks and discussion, 4:30-6:00 pm at VICTORY CAFE
581 Markham Street, one block south of Bloor and one block west of
Bathurst.  Tel:  416-516-5787

Wednesday February 28th
Presenter: Shana MacDonald
PhD Candidate in the Join York-Ryerson Communication and Culture Program

On the Difficulties of Representing Atmosphere in Havana

The paper examines creative and theoretical ways of accessing and describing the revolution as a palpable element of Havana's urban atmosphere. Shana will discuss the difficulty of recreating Havana's atmospheric spaces in words and image. The presentation will include a screening of the presenter's recent film on Havana.

Wednesday, March 14
Presenter: Jason Rovito
PhD Candidate in the Joint Ryerson-York Communication and Culture Program

Communicating the City: Beyond Autobiography

Giuliana Bruno, in her memoir-essay on Havana, got the city wrong. Positioned on the other side of relativity, this paper argues for both the right of advancing such a judgement and its accompanying possibility—to communicate the city, objectively—through Benjamin’s methodology of “genuine reminiscence.”

Wednesday, March 28
Presenter: NICHOLAS BALAISIS
PhD Candidate in the Joint York-Ryerson Communication and Culture Program

The Rural Imaginary and Cuban Spectatorship

This paper discusses the mobile cinema project in Cuba following the revolution in 1959. By examining the documentary Por Primera Ves (For the First Time), which details the reactions of first-time spectators in a remote Cuban village, I trace the relationship between the ‘virgin’ rural spectator and the revolutionary subject under construction in post-1959 Cuba.