ABSTRACT
I first traveled to Cuba in the summer of 1995, full of curiosity and high hopes for my research project. This preliminary trip was immensely successful. Like many foreigners I fell deeply in love with the warmth and vitality of Cuba. All of the officials I spoke with seemed enthusiastic and supportive, and everyone (from university professors to random strangers on the street) seemed eager to talk about health. After three weeks of preliminary research, I returned to the United States and quickly convinced my dissertation committee that conducting long-term fieldwork in Cuba was a feasible research goal.
