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In a classroom at the University of Havana, a Cuban musicologist pressed play on Patria y Vida, the song that became an anthem of the largest anti-government protests Cuba had seen in decades.

Portraits of Marx and Lenin looked down from the walls, as ��ɫ��Ƶ students listened from their seats. The song was one of many subjects they had explored during a semester spent studying Cuba's history, politics, film, music, race, and culture in Kingston. Now they were experiencing Cuba for themselves.

Moments like this shaped Cuban Culture and Society, a course that combined classroom study, cultural exchange, and international experience to deepen students' understanding of Cuba and its place in the world. Since its launch in 2008, each cohort spent a semester studying Cuba before travelling to Havana for two weeks of immersive learning.

"The [course’s] structure was unique in many ways," recall the lead instructors, Drs. Karen Dubinsky, Professor of Global Development Studies and History, and Susan Lord, Professor of Film and Media and Director of the Vulnerable Media Lab. "The University of Havana was our classroom, but so were art galleries, museums, cinemas, and the streets of Havana."

Many students arrived with only a partial picture of Cuba, shaped by what they had learned in class so far, media coverage, political debate, or tourism. The experience exposed them to perspectives and realities that rarely fit neatly into familiar narratives.

“Despite political slogans and clichés, Cuba has always been complicated,” says Dr. Dubinsky. “Our colleagues spoke honestly with students about everything from cultural creativity to censorship, from Afro-Cuban histories to racism, and from entrepreneurship to economic hardship. That openness was made possible by long-standing relationships with Cuban scholars, artists, and cultural leaders. Built over more than a decade, those partnerships fostered a rare level of trust and collaboration that allowed for candid, nuanced conversations across political and cultural divides.”

Those relationships helped shape how students learned. Musicians, filmmakers, and visual artists joined academics, offering perspectives informed by creative practice as well as scholarship.

“Students often commented that they had never considered music from a political or historical perspective,” says Dr. Lord. “In Cuba, our instructors weren't just academics, they were practitioners, which gave students so many more ways into cultural understanding.”

The experience challenged assumptions in other ways as well.

Students visited farms, galleries, museums, and cinemas while in Cuba.

The experience challenged assumptions in other ways as well.

“We heard repeatedly that students had to convince their parents this wasn't a beach trip,” Dr. Lord recalled. “A big part of this project was encouraging students to think about Cuba, and by extension, the Global South, as places with rich intellectual and cultural traditions.”

Over the years, the course evolved along with a period of significant change in Cuba, from the economic reforms introduced under Raúl Castro to the brief thaw in U.S.-Cuba relations during the Obama era, followed by renewed tensions under Donald Trump, pandemic-related hardship, and the government's crackdown to the 2021 protests.

More than 400 students travelled to Cuba through Cuban Culture and Society over 15 years, but as conditions in Cuba became increasingly challenging and unpredictable, the travel component of the course came to a pause. The last cohort travelled to Havana in 2023. Although the course has come to an end, its legacy lives in the tradition of innovative, immersive learning experiences that continue to define student learning at Queen’s.

Many former students have gone on to careers in diplomacy, development, filmmaking, and education, while others remain connected to Cuba and its culture. Their experiences reflect the enduring value of international partnerships and immersive learning in fostering global citizenship and cross-cultural understanding.