Today`s Cuba: Confounding Realities

About this trip

Participants will meet Cuban writers, visual artists, filmmakers, and historians (as well as a social scientist or two) to get a sense of the complexities and contradictions of contemporary Cuban life. Topics of discussion will include issues related to gender, race, equality/inequality, the recent protests, the relations between Cuba and the U.S., and the ways these have intersected as a result of the current and multiple crises on the island.

Highlights

Meet with Fernando Pérez, perhaps Cuba’s greatest living filmmaker. We will see his film “Suite Havana,” a portrayal of 10 Habaneros in the course of their daily lives on a single day, and discuss the film with him.
Take a guided walking tour, titled "The Black Presence in Havana: Past and Present," with Roberto Zurbano.
Have a discussion with the sociologist Mayra Espina, whose work has focused for decades upon questions of equality and inequality, particularly in terms of race, gender, and generational divides.
Visit the home of José Fuster, a ceramist and painter who has, with the help of his neighbors in the barrio of Jaimanitas, spent the last 25 years on a community development project centered around artistic production.Take a tour of the barrio with Fuster's son, Ale.
Meet a group of women who, when they were 15 to 19 years old, fought in the underground in Havana to overthrow the Batista regime during the 1950s.
Also meet with a number of other Cubans, including Eduardo Hernández, Daisy Rubeira, Janet Valdés, Alejandro Meroño, Marilyn Solaya, Leonardo Padura, Fernando Funes of Finca Marta, and the drummers of Obiní Batá.

Meet your leaders

Carollee Bengelsdorf

Carollee Bengelsdorf is professor emerita of politics in the School of Critical Social Inquiry at Hampshire College. She is the founder of Hampshire’s Cuba Program, both with the Cuban Union of Artists and Writers and the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana. Her first trip to the island was in 1969, and she has maintained close personal and scholarly contact since. She is the author of The Problem of Democracy in Cuba and numerous articles on Cuban women. Her current research involves an oral history of the girls and women who fought in the urban underground in Havana, from 1952 to 1959, to overthrow the Batista dictatorship. Her book, Clandestinas, will be published by Duke University Press in 2025.

Margaret Cerullo

Margaret Cerullo is professor of sociology and feminist studies in the School of Critical Social Inquiry at Hampshire College. She first went to Cuba with Carollee in 1978 and has avidly followed developments on the island since. She has returned to Cuba many times to attend conferences and to direct Hampshire’s semester-long program in Cuba. She is engaged in research about lesbians’ experiences in Havana before and after the Revolution.

What’s it like to go to Cuba with Carol and Margaret?

Responses from last year’s participants:

“I learned so much from Carollee, Margaret, the Clandestinas, and the other Cubans. The trip was life changing.” —Deb Levheim, 86F

“Hampshire in Havana was intense, eye-opening, and deeply human. I came back with more questions than answers, a lot more empathy, and a clearer sense of how complicated Cuba really is. And it was fun doing this with other Hampsters!” —Betty Carey, 83F

“On return I described the trip as an enlightening 'course' wrapped up in great food, curious travelers and profound experiences with artists, activists and thinkers. I learned so much beyond what I knew of Cuba, and Margaret, Carol, and our Cuban guide Atila brought it all together.” —Karen Kenny

“It was the best trip yet for me and Karen! Still talking about it with friends and family. I think the horrible, but predictable changes wrought by our current administration remind us of what we learned on our trip about the horrible previous actions of our country to Cuba, but also those enacted by authoritarian leadership within Cuba. Will these horrible actions ever end?” —Phillip Chase, 72F

“As for encouraging others to take a trip to Cuba with you, Carollee, and I hope, Atila: I admit to wanderlust, and I expected a lot from our week in Cuba, but it went far beyond for the intellectual and emotional bonds established. I want to go back, soon. It was like being shot out of a cannon!” —Matthew Patrick, 75S

“The trip to Havana was truly one of the best experiences I’ve ever had! Margaret and Carol, along with our Cuban guide, Atila, expertly and enthusiastically provided us with amazing opportunities for learning about the culture, history, and current situation in Cuba. We met with and/or visited musicians, scholars, poets, writers, filmmakers, artists and museums. Each day had some planned group activities and a wonderful lunch, usually served family style, in a local restaurant, as well as opportunities to explore on our own or in small groups. Kudos also to all of us participants, who brought our curiosity about and interest in the Cuban people and their country, which enriched all of our experiences.” —Constance M. Hilton

Havana

Jan 4, 2026

Upon arrival at Havana International Airport, after clearing customs and collecting your luggage, you will be met by your Cuban national guide and driver and transported to your hotel. At 5 pm, we will meet for welcome and introductions. At 6 pm, we will be joined by three generations of Cubans: Rafael Hernandez who grew up in the 1960s and Karen and Alejandro Valdez, daughter and grandson of Juan Valdez Paz, who traditionally participated in this opening panel but sadly passed away in 2021. Together, our speakers will offer distinct generational perspectives on the Revolution and Cuba today. Dinner will follow at Al Carbón. *Check-in time is 3 pm.

Dinner included