Abstract

KORSBAEK, Leif  and  BARRIOS LUNA, Marcela. La Antropología en Cuba. Cuicuilco [online]. 2009, vol.16, n.46, pp.11-33. ISSN 0185-1659.

The text presents various aspects of anthropological activities in Cuba, taking as its point of departure the fact that anthropology does not exist formally there, in the sense that no fomal academic carreer exists in spite of the existence of an abundance of anthropological activities that quite clearly belong to the universe of anthropology. After that, some of the roots of anthropology in Cuba are presented: thinkers and researchers of medicine, physical anthropology, philosophy and law, who have, at the same time, initiated these activities and brought them to the situation prevailing today: the existence of a rich physical anthropology and a criminology, but due to Cuba's soviet tradition, the near total absence of social and cultural anthropology. Followed by a description of the institutions in which the anthropological activities are carried out, the academic and political periodical publications that harbor the anthropological discussions, and the museums that display anthropological items. In the conclusions a couple of crucial questions are formulated: what is the knowledge that ethnography (in an Occidental sense) and social and cultural anthropology can provide us?, and of what use can this knowledge be in Cuba's new situation? It is our intention to discuss these questions in a later text, and it is our opinion that the Cuban case is important in our endevour to understand the value of anthropology and its limitations.

Keywords : Cuban Anthropology; Cuban Archeology; Cuban folklore; Anthropological institutions; Anthropological publications; Physical Anthropology; Criminology.

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