Queen's Cuban Culture and Society Course

Queen's Cuban Culture and Society Course students backstage with jazz pianist and bandleader Hilario Durán during his concert at the The Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts. 16 of Canada's best Cuban and Canadian jazz musicians playing Latin jazz on one stage, what a great concert. Gracias Maestro

Celebrate Alex Cuba's Queen's U honorary degree and welcome Dr. Alex to Kingston! Online ticket sales only.

In March 2020 Aldo Lopez Gavilan came to Queen's U for what would be the last concert many of us saw for 2 years. In the audience were 30 students who learned the next day we could not continue our Queen's Cuban Culture and Society Course in Havana, as we had the previous 12 years. Last night in the de Arte Cubano some of those same students saw Aldo in concert again as we resumed our course in Havana this May.

With @ Freddy Monasterio Part2 of Cuban Serenade's episode on Toronto's Lula Lounge: conversations with Tracy Jenkins, José Ortega, Klive Walker, Luis Orbegoso, Noventa, music by almost everyone. If you have never heard Freddy McGregor's reggae version of Guantanamera, this podcast is for you. On Soundcloud, Apple and Spotify

E4.P2 - Lula Lounge: A Bridge, a Home Base and a Great Dance Floor In this episode we continue exploring the history of Lula Lounge, one of the most important venues in Toronto for Cuban, Latin and non-Western music. We also consider the importance of dance at Lula.

https://btlbooks.com/blog/view/the-only-tourist-in-havana-december-2021

The Only Tourist in Havana, December 2021 Karen Dubinsky visits Havana and reports on what people there are experiencing and saying, continuing in the style of her book Cuba Beyond the Beach: Stories of Life in Havana

Today Susan Lord and I receive an award from the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) for the Queen's Cuban Culture and Society Course we've been teaching for over a decade. Thinking of all of our terrific students we've had over the years, as well as administrators at Queen's U and instructors in Havana. We'll be accepting it in the name of two beloved colleagues and instructors we lost this year Lourdes Pérez and Olguita Rodríquez

Studies in National and International Development, Queen's U, tomorrow. What a great group of speakers. Please tune in.

Cuban Culture and Society course instructor Olguita Rodríquez Pedroso - A Memorial

Olga (Olguita) Rodríquez Pedroso was a teacher. A historian who taught at the University of Havana for most of her life, she began her career as a volunteer literacy teacher in rural Cuba in 1961. She never stopped teaching. She was a popular member of the Havana teaching team for the Queen’s University Cuban Culture and Society course. She, along with her beloved sister Ines, and colleague Ramon Torriera, spoke annually to Queen's students about their experiences teaching literacy. She kept them spellbound. It’s hard to find a photo of Olguita in the classroom on her own when we were there, because our students always wanted to be photographed with her.
She also received her Canadian friends, students, and colleagues regularly at the house in Cerro she shared with her sister Ines and her husband Jorge, who preceded her in 2018. Olguita was a spectacular cook. And just as important, she understood that friendships, teaching moments and even university exchange agreements were enriched by good food and good company. When Queen’s University and the University of Havana renewed their exchange agreement in May, 2018, the class was accompanied by two senior Queen’s administrators. Olguita started planning the menu for the meal in December 2017. When we told her that December that one of our party was a vegetarian, she said, “don’t worry, I’ll start growing the vegetables now.” We thank her for her commitment to students and for her friendship.
Susan Lord, Cathie Krull, Karen Dubinsky

Thoughts on the escalating protests in Cuba, from historian Julio Cesar Guanche, translated into English from his FB page.

Unprecedented events in Cuba Demand Politics not War - Havana Times What’s happening in Cuba is as serious as it is unprecedented. Diaz-Canel sounded the war horn: “the streets belong to the revolutionaries”.

https://www.queensu.ca/artsci/node/1432

Faculty of Arts and Science mourns passing of Lourdes Pérez Montalvo Lourdes Pérez Montalvo, professor and Vice Dean of Research, Graduate Studies and International Relations at the University of Havana’s Faculty of Philosophy and History passed away April 15 in Havana. Generations of Faculty of Arts and Science students will know Professor Pérez as the Havana co...

En Paz Descansa/Rest In Peace Lourdes Pérez Montalvo.

Lourdes Pérez Montalvo, professor and Vice Dean of Research, Grad Studies and International Relations at the University of Havana’s Faculty of Philosophy and History, died Thursday 15 April in Havana. Generations of Queen’s University students will know Professor Pérez as the Havana coordinator of the Queen’s/U of Havana exchange program, and the Queen’s course “Cuban Culture and Society” which took place at Queen’s and at the U of Havana. Lourdes was a passionate and esteemed teacher and researcher. Her own research in recent years centred on Cuban and Caribbean migration flows, with an emphasis on gender.

Katherine O’Brien was Queen’s Associate VP (International) in 2018, when Queen’s and the U of Havana renewed their exchange agreement. This how she recalled meeting Lourdes in Havana: “Lourdes was the shining example of why international education is so important for students, educators, researchers, and administrators like me. During my time at Queen's, I travelled the world, but I was never made to feel so welcome, and my heart so filled with warmth as when we walked onto that campus, and I first met Lourdes.”

Professor Pérez Montalvo is survived by a large and loving family, including her daughter, Dailys in Havana and her son Dairon. Dairon completed his MA in Global Development Studies at Queen’s and remained to do his PhD in Geography. Her only grandchild, Aitana, was the proverbial apple of her eye.