Street Hustling, Wanderlust and Two Currencies: Contemporary Transitions Within Cuban Socialism

Undergraduate Honors Thesis

Citations

Citeable URL: https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/undergraduate_honors_theses/t722h9296

Abstract

This thesis seeks to explore the contemporary transitions within Cuban socialism that have been occurring since the re-introduction of international tourism and the implementation of a dual currency system after the fall of the Soviet trading bloc in 1989. Socioeconomic gaps have formed in recent years, as some Cubans have more access to foreign currency than others. In particular, this thesis focuses on jineterismo (street hustling) as a means to analyze the transitions that have been occurring such as the growing socioeconomic inequality, racial inequality, the movement away from the ideology of a more moral conscious population, as well as the growing wanderlust within the Cuban youth. A primary finding of this thesis is that jineterismo may be an indicator of the changing generational perceptions in regards to the morality of Cuban-foreigner interactions as well as the desire to understand ways of life off of the island. As I suggest in the text, these perceptions are evolving as more and more visitors come to the island every year; causing the Cuban youth to become increasingly used to interacting with foreign visitors on a personal level.

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