Is there Church History in Revolutionary Cuba? Accessing and Analysing Cuban Catholic Sources

The article examines the perspectives of conducting research on the history of the Catholic Church in Cuba in the context of the Revolution. Focusing on the current possibilities and challenges of archival research with Catholic primary sources in Cuba, the key argument of the article is that the cu...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Petra Kuivala
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Pluto Journals 2016-11-01
Series:International Journal of Cuban Studies
Online Access:https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/intejcubastud.8.2.0309
Description
Summary:The article examines the perspectives of conducting research on the history of the Catholic Church in Cuba in the context of the Revolution. Focusing on the current possibilities and challenges of archival research with Catholic primary sources in Cuba, the key argument of the article is that the current archival policy of the Catholic Church still reflects the historical development and current circumstances of the Cuban church–state relations. The article states that the contemporary history of the Catholic Church in Cuba still remains largely unknown due to the lack of accessing historical sources on the topic – yet the situation might be changing as a response to the changes taking place in Cuban society. Drawing from the writer's experiences of fieldwork in Cuba, the article portrays the process of accessing restricted archival materials of the Catholic Church in Cuba and examines how new sources enrich the history of the Catholic Church in revolutionary Cuba.
ISSN:1756-3461
1756-347X