El consumo cultural en Cuba y sus nexos con la ciudadanía. Posibilidades desde entornos periféricos

Abstract

This article starts from a review of studies on cultural consumption in Cuba to evaluate the gaps around the subject and the theoretical needs to address the new phenomena that are taking place in this field. The focus is on the alternative market for the production and distribution of entertainment content through informal channels generated by the “paquete semanal” (weekly package), a popular offline distribution system in the country. Finally, possible scenarios that could arise from these peripheral environments of production, distribution and consumption of content are projected, their potentialities are analyzed and a theoretical framework is proposed to address them from the social sciences, with particular interest in those proposals that link the consumption of entertainment with the experience of the citizenry.

We used a qualitative methodology was used based on literature review and analysis and an analytical approach. The theoretical framework is based on the Political Economy of Communication, from a liminal position with Cultural Studies and Political Science. The interest of this interdisciplinary perspective is to think about the implications of informal cultural consumption in the conformation of citizenship, understanding that being a citizen is not only related to the rights recognized by the State, but also to the cultural practices.

Among the main results, it stands out that, although the origin of the package is mercantile, it can change in its uses and in the alternative results that derive from them, for example: processes of sociability in the physical and virtual context; spaces of freedom from consumption that could have repercussions in other environments; reflexivity about individual autonomy; insertion in the global flows of cultural consumption; diversification of references; and incorporation of practices to reproduce and share digital media.