Cuba course adds unexpected learning

By Gail Fredrickson

Fifteen U of C students received more experiential learning than they expected on their recent visit to Havana.

The Continuing Education group, enrolled in the Music and Culture of Havana, Cuba, was looking to explore current and historical aspects of Havana’s musical and cultural life when an historical event occurred—President Fidel Castro announced his retirement. 

“Although the course is designed to look at music and culture, this one also became a political-science observation and an exercise in Cuban history,” said instructor John Reid.

“By the end of our time in Cuba, we’d talked about Cuban history, the revolutions, we’d been to Revolutionary Square and the museums. We had class time allotted to an open, wide range of discussions which did include Castro retiring and the future of Cuba.”

The course attracts students from across campus.

Nursing student Lynnette MacDonald said she was impressed with the role music plays in Cuban culture. “There was never a day during the trip that music wasn’t present and part of the experience.”
MacDonald is hoping to return to the country as part of her studies. “As a student interested in medicine and the health determinants of a society, I find the Cuban health-care system and the people to be intriguing,” she says.

“How is it they can be a healthy nation with so few resources? Something has to be working and so I’m interested in studying more of the culture and health care and how the two are connected.”