Using Dr. Espín’s memoir of childhood and adolescence, which was the recipient of the San Diego Book Award in 2021, we will discuss the Cuban political landscape in the mid-20th century. This memoir recreates a world that no longer exists: pre-revolutionary Cuba in the 1940s and 50s. Cuba’s fraught history and political instability are interwoven with a personal story to create a web of history, family, and cultural analysis. This is a young woman’s individual struggle for identity and independence against the background of the country’s national struggle. Family photographs and site photographs will illustrate the details of the story. We will also explore the process and meaning of memory and memoir for authors and readers. Reading some excerpts will illuminate the narrative. It is not necessary to have read the memoir in advance.

Oliva M. Espín is Professor Emerita in the Department of Women’s Studies at San Diego State University and the California School of Professional Psychology of Alliant International University. Espín was a pioneer in the practice and theory of feminist therapy with women from different cultural backgrounds, particularly immigrants and refugees. A native of Cuba, she received her BA in psychology from the University of Costa Rica and her PhD from the University of Florida. She did post-doctoral work at Harvard University with a fellowship from NIMH. Espín held the 2010 Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Gender Studies at the University of Klagenfurt, Austria. Her most recent book is My Native Land is Memory: Stories of a Cuban Childhood, winner of the 2021 San Diego Book Award.

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