An illustrated presentation by Ruth Behar on her journeys to the diverse communities of Jewish Cuba, drawing upon her work as a cultural anthropologist, poet, and writer of young people’s fiction. Her presentation will discuss Ashkenazi and Sephardic legacies on the island and in the diaspora, looking at how Jewish Cuban identities have evolved and are being redefined today. It will held in English and followed by a Q&A.
This presentation is part of our CreateNYC Language Access Series on Cuban History, Art, and Literature.
IT WILL BE STREAMED THROUGH OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL.
Please click on this link on the scheduled date and time:
https://youtu.be/-HeLTXCv1x8
Photo above: Patronato 2019, by Ruth Behar.
Ruth Behar was born in Havana, Cuba and grew up in New York. A cultural anthropologist and an author, she explores the depth of the human experience in many genres. She has lived in Spain and Mexico and returns often to Cuba to build bridges around culture and art. She has written eight books, including the travel memoirs, An Island Called Home: Returning to Jewish Cuba and Traveling Heavy: A Memoir in Between Journeys. The 25th anniversary edition of her classic work, The Vulnerable Observer: Anthropology that Breaks Your Heart, will be published next year. Her bilingual collection of poems can be found in Everything I Kept/Todo lo que guardé. Also an author of fiction for young readers, Behar won the Pura Belpré Author Medal for her debut middle grade novel, Lucky Broken Girl. Her recent novel, Letters from Cuba, is a Sydney Taylor Notable Book and won an International Latino Book Award. Her picture book, Tía Fortuna’s New Home, a Cuban Sephardic story, will be released in 2022. Behar is the recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Grant and a Guggenheim Fellowship, and was named a “Great Immigrant” by the Carnegie Corporation. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and is a Distinguished University Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
For those seeking a summary of the Jewish Cuban story, click on this short essay
by Ruth Behar:
https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/my-ancestors-keys/
This event is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
With the promotional collaboration of
This presentation is offered as a complementary event of the Cuban Cultural Center of New York’s 20th consecutive annual congreso, its flagship event, this year titled La Iglesia en Cuba: Legado histórico, cultural y espiritual, to be held online on Saturday, November 20 and Sunday, November 21, 2021.