Fall 2024 Visiting Faculty Fellow

Professor Adrian Hearn of the University of Melbourne studies international relations from the ground up. Of English and Brazilian background, he has also lived in the United States, Australia, Cuba, and China. Adrian’s policy papers have been published by the European Commission, Chatham House, and the Inter-American Dialogue. His books include Diaspora and Trust: Cuba, Mexico and the Rise of China (Duke University Press 2016), Cuba: Religion Social Capital, and Development (Duke University Press 2008), The Changing Currents of Transpacific Integration (Lynne Rienner 2016), and China Engages Latin America (Lynne Rienner 2011). Alongside his academic work, Adrian’s community arts project Suns of Mercury produces multicultural music, films, and performances.

A journey into new knowledge by Prof. Adrian H. Hearn (University of Melbourne) CASA-Cuba 2024 Visiting Faculty-in-Residence.
During my 2024 stay with the CASA-Cuba program, I had the pleasure of organizing encounters for the students with communities I have worked with over the years. These included a trip to the solar (collective residency) where I first lived and trained as a batá drummer in 2001-2002, and an excursion to the Min Chih Tang Association, which supported my postdoctoral research on Havana’s Chinatown in 2005-2006. Since then, I’ve often visited my Cuban friends and colleagues, but this was the first time I’ve introduced them to a group of intrepid foreign students.
The interactions were illuminating: in the solar courtyard, the students enjoyed a rumba performance and asked neighbors about the influence of Afro-Cuban religious traditions in their music and lives. In Chinatown we met Caridad Amaran, a Cuban icon of Peking Opera who stars in the film Havana Divas, which we watched together with Brown University Professor Evelyn Hu-Dehart beneath the Min Chih Tang Association’s breathtaking mural of the Great Wall of China. And at the Casa de las Américas—a key CASA partner—I had the honor of hosting a presentation on medicinal plants with one of Cuba’s most prominent Babalawo healers Victor Betancourt, former Minister of Culture Abel Prieto, an inspiring family of performers (Luis, Isbel, and Harkelly Jorrín), and director of the Casa de las Américas Afro-Americas Program Zuleica Romay.
I am grateful to the CASA-Cuba program, whose director Dr. Rainer Schultz supported my work and arranged an astounding variety of activities for the students. Among these was a trip to the towns of Girón and Trinidad, accompanied by Dr. Yoel Cordoví (President of the Cuban Institute of History). In Girón we heard from a museum director, a former civil defense official, and other specialists about the Bay of Pigs invasion and the circumstances leading up to it. In Trinidad we visited former sugar plantations, which are being restored to educate visitors about the daily lives of enslaved Africans and the resilience of cultural identity in the face of adversity. A further highlight of the CASA experience was the program of seminars offered by Cuban experts, including Prof. Reinaldo Funes-Monzote on environmental history, Prof. Antonio Aja on Cuba’s migration challenges, and former Minister of the Economy José Luis Rodríguez on development indicators during and after the Special Period of the 1990s.
I say farewell to the CASA-Cuba program deeply impressed with the opportunities it provides the students and staff of CASA member universities. Before taking up the Visiting Faculty-in-Residence post I thought I knew a thing or two about Cuba, and as my visit concludes, I am now sure that I do.