BODY AS A PROTEST: THE CUBAN CONTEXT
Two very distinct, contrary to each other,
changes has been occurring to the Cuban Bodies over the course of few years.
1.
Overweight and Obese Bodies, of
a sizable portion of the population
2.
Well-sculptured bodies, begotten
after consistent work at the Gymnasium.
How could this be?
The propagandists in Miami often tout the
lack of hard currency in Cuba and quantitatively shout that the Cuban
professionals are paid so little. They also haemorrhage the propaganda that the
country lacks food.
So successful has been their propaganda
aided and abetted by the Mainstream Media in the USA that every one thinks of
Cuba as a very poor country where people are kept enslaved and going without
food.
A Mexican teacher I met at Kuala Lumpur
airport, and a recent graduate from the USA, asked me, how is the poverty in
Cuba, it is very poor right?
I had to tell her, you would never see the
kind of poverty you see in Mexico, that sort of poverty is non existent in
Cuba, and other such things of USA as homelessness, children not attending
school etc.
But coming back to the theme, how come
obese bodies exist along the well sculptured bodies?
Under Raul Castro the economy has changed
and the people given freedom to operate small businesses.
I was told that many body building
Gymnasium have opened up, charging the participants between 15 and 20 dollars a
month to participate, and even a trainer provided. There are public spaces with
training equipment as well. I was not able to visit or photograph one such
gymnasium (lack of time rather than lack of permission) but I am told that they
are up to date, most of the machines manufactured in Cuba itself.
The hard cash one has to lay out is a huge
investment in deed. The Cuban economy can never be explained by the normal
understanding of supply and demand. The regular phone system is so ridiculously
cheap, as is the electricity (both under a dollar each for an apartment of two
bed rooms) but the ubiquitous cellular phone has to be paid in hard cash.
Almost every one seems to have a cellular phone these days in Cuba!
So there is some other driving force to
spend such a large amount of money, in the Cuban context, and spending at least
one hour each day at the Gymnasium?
Merleau-Ponty had discussed about context
in Anthropology and of course, many of the folk illnesses such as Nervios in
North Eastern Brasil and Perdida de Sombra in Central America has been
explained in context of the socioeconomic situation in those countries.
To see scores of young men, all fit and
trimmed, with fashionable haircuts and sculpted bodies, I began thinking
whether this could be a form of protest, like the famous Polyneuropathy of the
1990s when Cuba suffered a great economic disaster?
Like many other things in every day life,
the sculpting of the bodies cannot be controlled by any one, but it is the
expression of the desire of the individual, even if costs a pretty penny.
Whatever may be the reason, the usual
reason given is that they want to look pretty! Like Ricky Martin? It does not
seem to be for attracting the opposite sex since the sexual mores of Cuba are
dramatically different than other Latin American Countries.
Cuba is changing very fast and someone who
has not been there in the last year would be surprised at the changes. Who
would have thought in early 2013 that I could sit by the shade along a nice
avenue in Vedado sipping Cortadito, the same quality if not better than the one
available in Miami, for a fraction of the price (20 to 25% of the price). I
enjoyed it tremendously!
Welcome to the New Cuba! A mixture of
fundamental solidarity with some bodily luxuries to make this sensitive and
sensuous population even more so!
