Introduction

Contrary to popular thought, Cuban politics and civil society have not been stagnant for the past fifty-three years, caught within a time warp or the polarity of “us” versus “them.” While perhaps official rhetoric on and off the island has often hewed closely to anachronistic Cold War posturing, the recent transfer of power to Raúl Castro, foreign tourism, greater visibility of the Catholic Church, and social media signpost a more complex trajectory, especially since the Special Period of the 1990s. What may we glean from the ebb and flow of Cuban policies and practices? How do we move beyond binary commonplaces in Cuban studies? We ask the right questions, gather recent data, and articulate our ideas dispassionately.