With one Cuba program out, new program to be offered this spring

The Program in Latin American Studies will begin offering a new study abroad program in Cuba starting in spring 2015 to students with an interest in Latin American culture, politics and history.

The Office of International Programs website describes Princeton in Cuba as a semester-long program with a curriculum focusing on the “contemporary culture, political economy, history and anthropologyof Latin America.”

The Wilson School originally offered a task force in Cuba, but the program is no longer offered. Dean of the Wilson School Cecilia Rouse noted that interest from Wilson School students has been fairly low in the past few years. According to Director of the Office of International Programs Nancy Kanach, most students who participated in the task force were from other departments, such as anthropology, comparative literature and Spanish and Portuguese, and more than half of them were getting a certificate in the Program in Latin American Studies.

“Last year, there were no Wilson School students,” Kanach added. “[The Program in Latin American Studies] seemed like a better home for the program.”

She also noted that the Wilson School would offer a task force in a different location in Latin America.

In addition to two courses with local students in Cuba, Princeton in Cuba will require students to takeThe Urban Landscape of HavanaandCuban History, Literature and Politics Since the Revolution during the time that they study abroad in Cuba. These classes will be taught by professor and Director of the Program in Latin American Studies Rubén Gallo.

Becausehalf the curriculum will be University-sponsored courses, Kanach said, the academic program will be stronger.

“The program is perfectly integrated into the Princeton curriculum,” Gallo said. “We have a Princeton faculty member teaching there, which was not the case in the past.”

Gallo also said that the program is especially exciting due to the fact that Cuba is in the middle of making the transition from a socialist economy to a market economy, making Princeton in Cuba different from other programs in more developed cities such as Shanghai, Seoul and Paris.

“It’s not part of this globalized economy yet," Gallo said. "It is a great opportunity to witness firsthand, to experience as it’s happening.”

Princeton in Cuba will accept approximately 10 students. Accepted students will study at the University of Havana and will have a weeklong excursion in the middle of the program to see different parts of Cuba.

The selection process begins this fall, and there will be an information session onSept. 24.