American anthropologist Oscar Lewis secured permission from Fidel Castro to undertake three years of field research on cultural and economic change in Cuba in the decade after the victory of Castros M-26 Movement. This book delves into Lewis research goals, methods, the training and composition of his field team, and the difficulties of executing the plan in the political climate in Cuba at the time. The governments reasons for early termination of the research agreement are enumerated and their many discrepancies and inconsistencies evaluated. The experience of Project Cuba offers lessons on the difficulties of doing social science research in any highly surveilled, politically controlled environment however sympathetic the principal investigator.
Recenzijos
This is a splendid book. I could not put it down Rigdons discussion of the issues of research project integrity is a tour de force. Jorge I. Domķnguez, Harvard University
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1. Getting There
Chapter 2. Funding and Logistics
Chapter 3. The Research Plan
Chapter 4. Warning Signals
Chapter 5. The Termination
Chapter 6. The Material at Hand
Chapter 7. Fate of Informants and Staff
Conclusions: Walking the Cat Back Fifty Years Later
Epilogue
References
Susan M. Rigdon is a Research Associate in the Department of Anthropology at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She is the author of The Culture Facade: Art, Science and Politics in the Work of Oscar Lewis (University of Illinois Press, 1988) and for 20 years co-authored the award winning textbook American Government (West, 1986).
