Calendar - Cuban Research Institute

May 13, 2026: The Critical Reconstruction of La Esclava (1921) by José Mauri Esteve: Proposal for a Cuban Opera in Three Acts at GL - Green Library

Wed, 13 May 2026 12:00:00 -0400

This study addresses the critical reconstruction of La Esclava (1921) by José Mauri Esteve as a central case for understanding the emergence of a national operatic language in Cuba and the processes of textual transmission within Cuban lyric theatre. Preserved in a fragmentary condition and dispersed across orchestral parts, piano reductions, and divergent vocal copies, the work must be examined from the perspective of the continuing archive, understood as the critical articulation of heterogeneous material testimonies.

The lecture will first present the current state of the surviving sources and the principal stages in the transmission of the work from its premiere to later twentieth-century revival attempts. Second, it will examine the methodological criteria applied in the comparison of vocal versions and partial orchestral materials, with the aim of restoring the dramatic and musical structure of the work as a Cuban opera in three acts. Particular attention will also be given to the role of archival collections associated with the Díaz-Ayala Collection and related holdings in reconstructing the documentary framework of the work. Finally, the paper will reflect on the place of La Esclava within the historiography of Cuban lyric theatre and on the implications of its reconstruction for establishing a canonical version oriented both toward scholarly research and contemporary performance practice.

This event is free and open to the public. This event will be held in Spanish. To confirm your in-person attendance, please write ics@fiu.edu or call (305) 348–1991

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May 15, 2026: El Monte's New Itineraries edited by Alberto Sosa-Cabanas at Books & Books

Fri, 15 May 2026 19:00:00 -0400

El Monte's New Itineraries is the first book fully devoted to the study of Cuban author and ethnographer Lydia Cabrera’s El Monte (1954), one of the most influential books in Caribbean cultural history. Highly referenced, El Monte is a comprehensive work that intertwines ethnobotany, popular orality, and Afro-Cuban traditions. Its pages have enjoyed a transnational influence, enriching domains such as ethnography, politics, theater, and even science fiction literature in the Caribbean, and the knowledge contained in it lies at the heart of Afrodiasporic spirituality and ethnomedicinal practices across Hispanic Caribbean cultures and beyond.

This event is free and open to the public. To confirm your attendance, please click the event link below to RSVP.

El Monte's New Itineraries | An Evening with Alberto Sosa-Cabanas Tickets, Friday, May 15 • Starts at 6:30 PM | Eventbrite

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May 28, 2026: Ecomythologies: Ana Mendieta and the Cuban Imaginary at The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum

Thu, 28 May 2026 14:00:00 -0400

Ana Mendieta’s earth-body sculptures, grounded in the materiality of earthly substances—fire, rock, sand, feathers, mud—constitute one of the most innovative body of works in contemporary art and reframes the Cuban Imaginary, revitalizing the connection between island and diaspora. This lecture examines Ana Mendieta’s Siluetas as a mythologizing of landscape through the female form. It then turns to the Rupestrian Sculptures carved at Jaruco Park near Havana, a series that retrieves the Taíno legacy while aligning with Fernando Ortiz’s concept of ecomythologies, to suggest the way that Caribbean nature shapes the islands’ creative imagination.

This event is free and open to the public. To confirm your in-person attendance, please write ics@fiu.edu or call (305) 348–1991

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