BENN 3780 - Cuba: Complexity, Community, and Change

This is a community engaged learning abroad course (CELA) in which we explore the power of community engagement in an international context. We will utilize the history, culture, and civic issues affecting Cuba as a living learning journey. The course is composed of weekly class meetings, readings, discussions, and a week-long community engagement experience in Havana, Cuba. The course is the result of collaborative efforts between The Lowell Bennion Community Service Center, Learning Abroad, the Departments of Political Science, Public Administration, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Center in Havana, Cuba. Central to Cuba: Complexity, Community & Change is the interdisciplinary and collaborative nature of community-based experiential learning. We will consider and discuss civic leadership, community health, systems ecology, and collective impact to better understand how the activities and impacts of traveling and tourism affect quality of life, culture, and community in a historically isolated Latin American country. This course examines the current political, economic, social, and environmental issues in Cuba. Despite the evolving diplomatic relations with the U.S, there remain many misconceptions regarding the internal and external dynamics of Cuba. Through in-class and in-country discussions and activities we will analyze various historical and contemporary perspectives regarding Cuba and the Cuban Revolution.