Now in its eighth year, the Alabama-Cuba Initiative provides students with a rare opportunity to research and study abroad in Cuba.
Oct. 10 – 14, the Bryant Conference Center will be hosting Cuba Week. Attendees will sit in on different sessions with topics ranging from the importance of the Alabama-Cuba relationship to the University’s study abroad program there.
Chip Cooper, a faculty member in the UA College of Arts and Sciences, has been shooting photographs alongside Cuban photographer Nestor Marti to produce a book about Old Havana. Cooper said he has taken students to Cuba to study for a semester.
“It’s the most amazing place I’ve ever photographed,” Cooper said. “Most Americans have no clue about this incredible country so we are doing a book sponsored by Dean Bob Olin from the College of Arts and Sciences and Dr. Eusebio Leal, City of Havana Historian.”
In a press release, Olin said it was his hope that [Cooper’s] project will expand to include a book publication of the photographs as well as a parallel project in Alabama with Nestor capturing the changes created by growth in our University and our rural communities.
“In addition to a semester-abroad program for the UA undergraduate students, this progressive partnership has captured the creative potential and intellectual spirit of our two cultures with one common goal – to promote change in our respective communities through uniting our talent,” Olin said in the release.
Seth Panitch, associate professor of theater, said he has taken graduate acting students down to Cuba with him when he has directed productions in Havana.
“I also brought up professional Cuban actors to perform with our undergraduates in a Spanish language production of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ the summer before last,” Panitch said.
Molly Barrett, a junior majoring in nursing, said studying abroad is great because you get to witness how people of another culture live.
“It is one of the most eye-opening and incredible experiences ever,” Barrett said. “You basically get to live an entirely different life while experiencing a bunch of new food, music, people, history, art, family/life, religious/spiritual/life, ways of living, partying and the list goes on.”
Those interested in registering for Cuba Week can do so online at cubaweek.ua.edu. The fee is $30 per person, which covers the cost of the sessions, program materials, refreshment breaks, tours and other functions.
Aside from the different sessions offered throughout the week, participants will also tour Moundville, the Westervelt Warner Museum and attend a Cuban music concert.
Barrett said that having events such as Cuba Week are important, because we live in a global community.
“I think it is both prudent as well as interesting to know about other countries and cultures and their customs,” Barrett said. “It’s a good idea in case [you] run into a situation where knowledge of another’s culture and country would come in handy.
“Obviously, if you are about to study there it would probably greatly aid you in knowing of the country and culture beforehand.”
