Cross Cultural Encounters in Cuba

by D.P. Rigg
Drew Magazine
Summer 2003

"When you live in a great and powerful country like the U.S., you tend to think that your way is the only way. But in truth, it's only one way, and it may not necessarily be the best way. Through these cross-cultural programs, we hope to help our students recognize and appreciate the other ways." ~ Professor Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz

Most Americans harbor a kind of imposed disinterest in the Republic of Cuba. For many of us, this land of 11 million people situated a boat ride off the Florida coast exists only in news bits about drowned refugees or the latest rhetoric of a fatigues-clad Fidel Castro.

The U.S. embargo on Cuba has outlasted nine presidential administrations. Since Castro took over the island nation in 1959, instituting totalitarian rule and cuddling up snugly with the former Soviet Union, the U.S. has remained a cold and censorious onlooker, with only a few die-hard cigar smokers seeming to lament the loss of our southern neighbor.

We do no business with Cuba, don't vacation there or buy its goods. As far as the U.S. is officially concerned, Cuba is a Pennsylvania-sized hole in the blue Caribbean. When the U.S.S.R. went belly-up in the late eighties, the Cuban government began losing the $6 billion in annual aid it had been receiving, not to mention all the military and technical support. From 1989 to 1993, the Cuban GDP dropped 35 percent, and this, coupled with the country's domestic operational inefficiencies, had a devastating effect on the civilian population. Everything was in short supply. Everything, it seems, except the spirit of the people.

"When I first visited Cuba in 1994, it was really depressing," recalls Maxine Beach, vice president and dean of the Drew Theological School. "There was no food, no cars on the roads because there was no gas. The whole country seemed to have lost its energy.

"I was so pleasantly surprised this past January when I saw all the taxis buzzing around and the restoration work going on in Old Havana -- signs of a recovering and vital economy. The Cuban people had figured out how to move on."

Special Opportunity

During the 2003 winter break, a large group of Theological School faculty members took advantage of a special educators' opportunity to visit Cuba. The trip was part of a faculty development initiative designed to provide the teaching staff with an out-of-country cultural encounter. Since many of the School's students will be required to undergo a cross-cultural immersion as part of their academic program, it was essential for faculty members to have the benefit of a similar experience.

"Cuba proved to be a wonderful place for our faculty to confront cultural differences," explains Virginia Samuel-Cetuk, associate dean of contextual learning. "The language barrier, divergent political and belief systems, and conceptual differences helped demonstrate some of the difficulties we may encounter when working outside our own cultural 'comfort zones.'"

The group spent a jampacked week meeting with religious leaders, educators, and local people. Access to many of the speakers was made possible through the help of Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, professor of ethics and theology at Drew. A native of Cuba, Isasi-Diaz came to the U.S. in 1960 and did not return to the island until 1987 when she attended a workshop for Latino scholars of religion.

In 1998, she was invited to teach a course at the Protestant seminary in Matanzas and has returned each year since. The friends and relationships she's fostered provide hosts, guides, and lecturers for Drew visitors.

"It was a busy week for the Drew faculty," says Isasi-Diaz. "We actually had only five days and I tried to expose them to as much in that short time as students would experience in the program's full two-week trip."

Personal commitments prevented several professors from making the trip to Cuba, but a total of 24 of the Theological School's faculty, including its three deans, took part. Though providing cross-cultural experience was a primary objective, it was not the only ambition.

"Our faculty members work with each other all the time, but we have few occasions to just 'be' with each other," says Dean Beach. "I was hoping this trip would provide opportunities for us to get to know each other in different ways. I believe that goal was accomplished and we will all be enjoying the benefits of our mutual experience for a long time." "It was actually quite interesting," adds Laurel Kearns, associate professor of sociology of religion. "No cliques formed during the trip; no one seemed to be sitting with or eating with the same people. Everyone was seeking out and enjoying the company of everyone else. We finally got to know the people we'd been bumping into in the hallways. Most importantly, we were all learning together."

Reflections

Of course, 24 people sharing a common experience will result in as many different outlooks. Otto Maduro, professor of world Christianity, felt it was "...a privileged experience to look at our own society and its foreign policies from a new perspective."

Christopher Boesel, assistant professor of Christian theology, was struck by the changes in church-government relations, especially with regard to church opportunities for creative cooperation with the government and meeting the needs of the Cuban people. The experience convinced Boesel that churches in Cuba need the support and cooperation of the American church in order to take full advantage of these opening doors.

Professor of ecumenical theology Wesley Ariarajah took great interest in the Cuban church community's ability to minister to the people within the limited confines established by a totalitarian government: "I was deeply impressed with both their commitment and the amount of 'space' they have been able to create for following religious traditions."

Ariarajah found the Cuban people's access to education and health care a "remarkable achievement," considering the nation's limited resources.

"Poverty is a relative reality," he explains. "It is important that Cuba is not compared to the U.S. or other developed countries, but to other similar nations that have had no opportunity to catch up with economic prosperity."

Angella Son, assistant professor of psychology and religion, discovered a "richness of life" in Cuba's multifaceted and well-integrated culture, and a "practical wisdom at the heart of everyday life." At the same time, she found concern for the future, a future that, she believes, should rest in the hands of the Cuban people and God's vision.

Good Timing

Of course, Cuba was a strongly religious country before the political shift to communism and although the process of religion had to bend and stretch to accommodate government edicts, the people never lost their faith. Today, the spiritual and social responsibility of the church is actively growing.

"Timing has been good for our visits to Cuba," says Dean Samuel. "The churches are packed: young people who had no spiritual background are joining those who never left the church. Pastors and priests now have much greater influence and people are coming to them for all manner of assistance. It's an important time to experience ministry in Cuba."

"I really felt privileged to be able to visit at a time when Cuba is still free of most Western cultural influences," adds Kearns. "It took me a little time to notice that I was not seeing billboards and advertisements everywhere. This experience will certainly help me help students see things in new ways."

It's natural and reassuring to identify with your surroundings and the people you see every day. But as the world continues to shrink and global becomes local, we must open our minds to those thoughts and concepts we never before needed to consider. For the Theological School's faculty and students, the journey is already in progress.

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