A ‘Small’ Nation?

By any standard marker, Cuba is a ‘small’ nation. Its national territory occupies only 110,860 sq km, its population is slightly less than 11.5 million, and it has a small economic patrimony. Yet, by other standards, it can also be considered a major nation. In the context of the Caribbean region, Cuba is not only the largest and most populous island; it is also, in many ways, the richest. Because of its strategic location, Cuba has always been the epicentre of the Caribbean - it was always a central node of transatlantic trade and, since the 1959 Revolution, has been perceived as the heart of the movement of non-aligned nations. Therefore Cuba has not suffered from what Mette Hjort calls ‘the pathos of small nationhood’: ‘a cluster of debilitating and troubling insecurities prompted by a demeaning stance on the part of more powerful players in the game of culture, by indifference and the sense of invisibility that it entails’ (Hjort 2005: 30). Instead, it has been the source of extraordinarily rich and powerful expressions in all areas of cultural production, from music, literature and the fine arts, to cinema. Cuban ‘nationness’ (cubanía) has always been intensely felt, a source of pride, and if anything, Cuba has even greater claims to exceptionalism than most other nations. Its trajectory has never followed standard patterns and its nationalism has been conceived of as unique.