Zum Hauptinhalt springen Zur Suche springen Zur Hauptnavigation springen
Beschreibung

An exploration of Cuba’s emerging digital culture and Cubans’ creation of grassroots networks, digital black markets, and online spaces for public debate

Until just a few years ago, Cuba was one of the least-connected countries in the world. But as digital technology has become increasingly available, Cubans have found inventive ways to work around such remaining barriers as slow speeds, high costs, and inadequate infrastructure. In Island in the Net, Steffen Köhn examines Cuba’s nascent digital culture and how it has reconfigured the relationship between the state and its citizens. Köhn shows that through innovations including “sneakernets” (the physical transfer of information by flash drives and other devices), digital black markets, and online spaces for political debates, Cubans have successfully challenged the government’s monopoly on media and public discourse.

Drawing on multisited ethnographic research, Köhn documents Cuba’s digital awakening, from the introduction of accessible Wi-Fi in 2015 to the social media–fueled protests in July 2021. Cubans’ community-driven digital innovations, he suggests, could be models for potential alternatives to the current Big Tech–dominated internet.

Each chapter in Island in the Net is accompanied by a multimodal anthropology work: a video game, interactive installations, video art, an ethnographic documentary, and an expanded cinema installation. These unique media, created with Cuban artist Nestor Siré and other local collaborators, accessible to readers via a QR code, bring the book’s argument vividly to life.

An exploration of Cuba’s emerging digital culture and Cubans’ creation of grassroots networks, digital black markets, and online spaces for public debate

Until just a few years ago, Cuba was one of the least-connected countries in the world. But as digital technology has become increasingly available, Cubans have found inventive ways to work around such remaining barriers as slow speeds, high costs, and inadequate infrastructure. In Island in the Net, Steffen Köhn examines Cuba’s nascent digital culture and how it has reconfigured the relationship between the state and its citizens. Köhn shows that through innovations including “sneakernets” (the physical transfer of information by flash drives and other devices), digital black markets, and online spaces for political debates, Cubans have successfully challenged the government’s monopoly on media and public discourse.

Drawing on multisited ethnographic research, Köhn documents Cuba’s digital awakening, from the introduction of accessible Wi-Fi in 2015 to the social media–fueled protests in July 2021. Cubans’ community-driven digital innovations, he suggests, could be models for potential alternatives to the current Big Tech–dominated internet.

Each chapter in Island in the Net is accompanied by a multimodal anthropology work: a video game, interactive installations, video art, an ethnographic documentary, and an expanded cinema installation. These unique media, created with Cuban artist Nestor Siré and other local collaborators, accessible to readers via a QR code, bring the book’s argument vividly to life.

Über den Autor
Steffen Köhn
Details
Erscheinungsjahr: 2026
Genre: Importe, Soziologie
Rubrik: Wissenschaften
Medium: Taschenbuch
Inhalt: Einband - flex.(Paperback)
ISBN-13: 9780691273143
ISBN-10: 0691273146
Sprache: Englisch
Einband: Kartoniert / Broschiert
Autor: Köhn, Steffen
Hersteller: Princeton University Press
Verantwortliche Person für die EU: Libri GmbH, Europaallee 1, D-36244 Bad Hersfeld, gpsr@libri.de
Maße: 234 x 156 x 15 mm
Von/Mit: Steffen Köhn
Erscheinungsdatum: 10.02.2026
Gewicht: 0,367 kg
Artikel-ID: 134511472

Ähnliche Produkte