El Paquete: A Qualitative Study of Cuba’s Transition from Socialism to Quasi-Capitalism

Abstract

The purpose of my research is to understand how media functions in the transitioning state of Cuba. More specifically, this study investigates how ungoverned media affects the habitus of Cubans thus causing them to re-interpret definitions of self by re-defining dynamics between the state and its citizens. Cuba is one of the few places in the world where Internet, television, and general forms of mass entertainment and communication are not readily accessible to the public. Furthermore, any legal media is monitored by the state. El paquete (The Packet) is a conglomeration of foreign and therefore illegal media is placed onto an external diskdrive and sold and distributed throughout the country creating a readily accessible media alternative to the state – the governing body of Cuba. Through interviews I understand the ways that distributors (sellers) and consumers of el paquete make meaning of their worlds- socialist Cuba vis-à-vis the quasi-capitalist Cuba that has been emerging.