Waiting for the blackout. Operational analysis of an institutionalized waiting process in Cuba
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37894/ai.v40i1.2932Keywords:
Cuban blackouts, Discontinuous materialism, Waiting, Operations, Institutional waitingAbstract
This study explores the waiting processes associated with blackouts in Cuba from an operational perspective grounded in Discontinuous Materialism (DM). By conceptualizing these processes as sociohistorical institutions, the research examines culturally established actions and strategies, transmitted across generations to confront these phenomena, through empirical case studies and sociocultural analysis. This approach reveals the historical and social impact of blackouts and the associated waiting processes on contemporary Cuban life, as well as the learning and transmission of skills needed to face these challenges. The operational perspective highlights community resilience and solidarity amid instability, offering valuable insights for managing similar crises by social actors and communities alike. Although limited by the sample size and its geographic and cultural scope, this study aims to lay a foundation for future research on waiting processes and the contemporary social history of Cuba.
References
ALEXANDER, J. C., EYERMAN, R., GIESEN, B., SMELSER, N. J. & SZTOMPKA, P., 2004. Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity (1st ed.). University of California Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1pp9nb.
ALVARGONZÁLEZ, D., 2024. La filosofía de Gustavo Bueno. Oviedo: Ediuno.
AVILA, D. D. C., 2023. Waiting as institution: Notes for an institutional analysis of human waiting processes from a Discontinuous Materialism perspective. Palimpsesto, 13(22), pp. 144-169. https://www.revistas.usach.cl/ojs/index.php/palimpsesto/article/view/6200/26004551.
AYALA, B. R. & BEHAR, R., 2023. Those who are left behind: A chronicle of internet access in Cuba. https://doi.org/10.1145/3543873.3585573.
BAILEY, C., 2019. Waiting in organisations. Time and Society, 28(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/0961463X18794587.
BOURDIEU, P., 2000. Pascalian Meditations. Stanford University Press.
BUENO, G., 1972. Ensayos materialistas. Taurus.
BUENO, G., 1978. Sobre el concepto de «espacio antropológico». El Basilisco, V, pp. 57-69.
BUENO, G., 1984. Ensayo de una Teoría antropológica de las Ceremonias. El Basilisco, pp. 8-37.
BUENO, G., 1992. Estado e historia (en torno al artículo de Francis Fukuyama). El Basilisco, Segunda época (11), pp. 3-27. https://filosofia.org/rev/bas/bas21101.htm.
BUENO, G., 2005. Ensayo de una teoría antropológica de las instituciones. El Basilisco. https://www.fgbueno.es/bas/bas37a.htm.
BUENO, G., 2009. Espacio antropológico. Fgbuenotv. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= E4g9DIyVAOM.
BUENO, G., 2010, January 27. Instituciones - Tesela 012. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= GDr10mXJpwo.
CELAYA, M., 2019, September 12. Cuba en crisis: ¿nuevo Período Especial o ‘coyuntura’? Cubanet. https://www.cubanet.org/destacados/periodo-especial-o-coyuntura-cuba/.
DE PINTO, E. P., 2006. Cómo construir categorías en Microhistoria. Revista de Artes y Humanidades UNICA, Universidad Católica Cecilio Acosta, Venezuela. ISSN: 1317-102X.
DELGADO, F., 2019, February 8. Cuando Se Vaya La Luz Mi Negra Lyrics. Genius Lyrics. https://genius.com/Frank-delgado-cuando-se-vaya-la-luz-mi-negra-lyrics.
DEUTSCHE WELLE, 2022, October. Tercer día de protestas en Cuba por apagones. Las noticias y análisis más importantes en América Latina | DW. https://www.dw.com/es/tercer-d%C3%ADa-de-protestas-en-cuba-por-apagones/a-63303764.
DÍAZ, W. B., 2022, December 13. Trabajamos por un sistema eléctrico confiable, estable y seguro, que acompañe el desarrollo del país. Granma. https://www.granma.cu/cuba/2022-12-13/trabajamos-por-un-sistema-electrico-confiable-estable-y-seguro-que-acompane-el-desarrollo-del-pais-13-12-2022-01-12-55.
FUJITA, M., 1985. Modes of Waiting. In M. VAN MANEN (ed.), Writing in the Dark: Phenomenological Studies in Interpretive Inquiry. (pp. 210-218). Routledge, New York. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315415574.
GARCÍA, D. M., 2022. Ruins of Utopia: Trauma in Post-Soviet Cuban Culture and Literature, 1, pp. 20-25. https://doi.org/10.5117/9789048557578/AHM.2022.003.
GONZÁLEZ, L., 2003. Otra invitación a la microhistoria (3ra ed.). México: Fondo de Cultura Económica.
GRAY, K., 2009. Property in a queue. In A. GREGORY & E. M. PEÑALVER (eds.), Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195391572.003.007.
GUEVARA-STONE, L., & ÁVILA, M. A. A., 2009. Cuba’s energy revolution - Creating an energy consciousness through education. 38th ASES National Solar Conference 2009, SOLAR 2009, 8. Cuba Energía, La Habana.
KÄKÖNEN, M., KAISTI, H., & LUUKKANEN, J., 2014. Energy Revolution in Cuba: Pioneering for the Future? University of Turku, Finland Futures Research Centre. http://www.utu.fi/fi/yksikot/ffrc/julkaisut/e-tutu/Documents/eBook_4-2014.pdf ISBN: 978-952-249-276-0
KOWAL, E., 2009. Waiting for the baby. In H. Hage (ed.), Waiting (pp. 210-218). Melbourne University Press, Melbourne.
LARA, P., & ANTÚNEZ, Á., 2014. La historia oral como alternativa metodológica para las ciencias sociales. Revista de Teoría y Didáctica de las Ciencias Sociales, 20, pp. 45-62. https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=65247751003.
LUNGU, V., 2019. Waiting in political limbo in Bangkok: Lives in the meantime and modes of political action [Master Thesis, Utrecht University]. https://dspace.library.uu.nl/handle/1874/392683.
MAN, R., 2013. La microhistoria como referente teórico-metodológico: Un recorrido por sus vertientes y debates conceptuales. Historia Actual Online, 30, pp. 167-173.
MARTÍNEZ, J. M., 2022, December 8. El rugir de «40 motores», por más energía para Cuba. Granma. https://www.granma.cu/cuba/2022-12-08/el-rugir-de-40-motores-por-mas-energia-para-cuba-08-12-2022-19-12-39.
MARTÍNEZ, L. H., 2020, August 19. Exigir por la disciplina y la calidad en todo lo que hagamos. Juventud Rebelde. https://www.juventudrebelde.cu/cuba/2020-08-19/exigir-por-la-disciplina-y-la-calidad-en-todo-lo-que-hagamos.
ONGAY, Í. de F., 2008. Notas en torno al concepto de institución y las instituciones empresariales. El Catoblepas, 79(10). https://www.nodulo.org/ec/2008/n079p10.htm.
PALUMBO, M. M., & VACCA, L. C., 2020. Epistemologías y metodologías críticas en Ciencias Sociales: precisiones conceptuales en clave latinoamericana. Revista Latinoamericana de Metodología de las Ciencias Sociales (Relmecs), 10(2), e076. https://doi.org/10.24215/18537863E076.}
PÉREZ-JARA, J., 2022. Discontinuous Materialism. In G. E. ROMERO, J. PÉREZ-JARA, & L. CAMPRUBÍ (eds.), Contemporary Materialism: Its Ontology and Epistemology (pp. 109-154). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89488-7_3.
SCHWARTZ, B., 1978. Queues, Priorities, and Social Process. Social Psychology, 41 (1), pp. 3-12.
TANG, L., 2012. Waiting together: Seafarer-partners in cyberspace. Time & Society, 21(2). https://doi.org/10.1177/0961463X10387690.
VASCONCELOS, J. S. & MASON-DEESE, L., 2021. Cuba, Protests, and Paths of Revolution. Journal of Latin American Geography, 20(3), pp. 195-205. https://doi.org/10.1353/LAG.2021.0056.
VÁZQUEZ, L., LUUKKANEN, J., KAISTI, H., KÄKÖNEN, M. & MAJANNE, Y., 2015. Decomposition analysis of Cuban energy production and use: Analysis of energy transformation for sustainability. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 49, pp. 638-645. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.04.156.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Anuario IEHS
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
