The story of the Cuban Revolution
has been told by a myriad of voices in a variety
of cultural forms. Popularized into the
language of everyday life, the heroes of the
Revolution have been typically mythologized as
´male´. The everpresent man on the streets
keeping his stories ´public´, hers thus remain
private, history reminding us that the wife/mother
forever negotiates between her public
responsibilities and the ones in the home.
to the sweeping reforms that occurred in Cuba
following 1959, many consider the 1961 Campaña de
Alfabetizacion (Literacy Campaign) to be the
´jewel´ of the entire Revolutionary
movement. More than 250,000 Cubans joined
literacy brigades as literacy teachers, part of a
grand movement to irradicate illiteracy in the
country within one year. More than half of
those who volunteered were women.
the mechanics of reading and writing, it was the
development of consciousness--in the illiterate
and those who volunteered--that invited all Cubans
into a positive forum to consider new
lives. For women in Cuba, the Campaña marked
a definite moment in liberation in how they would
begin to view their life choices.
This work-in-progress features
photographic portraits of women who participated
as literacy teachers, together with a
cross-section of their reflective testimonials.
to download a sample of JC Elvy's work (pdf)