History, organization and belief among Cuban "plantado" political prisoners, 1959-1993

Anti-Castro activists began organizing guerrilla groups in the early 1960's to oppose the revolutionary government of Cuba. The perception that the new regime posed a threat to religion and pre-existing cultural values were among the motives for this activity. This thesis presents three case studies of individuals who due to their beliefs, became guerrillas, were imprisoned for that activity, and who subsequently refused to participate in the prison reeducation program. The findings of this study indicate that ideology and beliefs function to provide meaningful explanations to social life, and are not necessarily thin veils for self interest masquerading as principle. Rather, important religious and cultural beliefs take on a life of their own independent of material self interest; this allows for individuals to commit to causes where there are powerful incentives to renounce one's beliefs.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Anthropology

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Year

1993

Author dc:creator

• Yaworsky, William Raymond

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/rtds/310

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:oasis.library.unlv.edu:rtds-1309