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The present paper invites a critical reflection, from a decolonial perspective, on the importance of considering gender in the approach to mental health problems. From a methodological point of view, this critical position includes consideration of the hermeneutic condition of the intersection between gender, race and other social historical determinants. It also explores the development and the incorporation of a gender perspective as an expression of decolonial thought, in approaches to mental health in the Cuban context. The paper draws on the critique of colonial thought in relation to psychology and gender. It analyses the history and the development of these ideas from the academic experience developed in the East of Cuba, a place on the periphery, a context that is distant and distinct from Havana, which is often seen as the main scientific centre and point of reference. As such, this paper includes a critique of colonial power with respect to the geographical location of the profession of psychology. In this way, it contributes to the central objective of promoting awareness of decolonial thinking, with an emphasis principally on gender and as a way to favour the professional development of clinical psychology in all of Cuba. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In February 1904, American itinerant photographer Sumner W. Matteson, a native of Decorah, Iowa, visited Cuba for about four months. He travelled extensively throughout the island and took over five hundred photographs. It was the first time Matteson had left the United States and, upon reaching the island, he headed into the countryside and began to photograph a wide range of individuals. Matteson's documentary work represents an image of Cuba that was relatively unknown in the United States at the time. His photographs cut across racial, gender, class, and geographic lines, and portrayed Matteson's subjects with a sense of pride and agency. This paper will argue that Matteson portrayed Cuba and its people with an intimacy unlike that of any photographer before him - this during the founding years of the republic, shortly after a four-year American occupation, and at a time when Cubans were seen as exotic others. The photographs reveal a multi-hued population of blacks, mulattoes, and whites, male and female - subjects rarely portrayed sensitively in photographs of the time. This paper will offer some suggestions as to why this white, Midwestern male photographer did not fall into the potentially exploitative trap of representing the Cuban people in the customary way. Matteson's images provide depictions of the Cuban people that had been previously absent, and offered a face of the rural subaltern consisting of both blacks and whites, working-class Cubans, and even a former Rebel Army leader - all less than twenty years after the abolition of slavery in Cuba in 1886. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men are most affected by HIV in Cuba, infections among women have increased over time, but there has been little research to contextualise their vulnerability to HIV. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of gender and violence in shaping vulnerability to HIV among Cuban women. Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with women living with HIV at an outpatient HIV clinic in Havana. Narrative and thematic technique were used to systematically analyse the data. Participants described negotiating sexual relationships in a context where traditional gender norms merge with the paradox of increasing professional opportunities for women alongside growing economic precarity. Interconnected economic and emotional dependence along with violence influenced the acceptance of certain behaviours that heightened vulnerability to HIV, including inconsistent condom use and infidelity. Gender transformative approaches that recognise the complex interplay between gender norms, economic precarity and violence are needed to address women's vulnerability to HIV in the Cuban context. Such efforts can reinforce existing strategies to promote behaviourally focused prevention while creating an enabling environment for the integration and expansion of biomedical innovation in HIV prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the concept and staging of a multi-media installation created by artist/scholar Shanti Pillai in Havana, Cuba in 2007. The project addressed the performance of cultural, racialized and gendered identities as manifest in usual routes of travel. It also explored perceptions about India in social contexts with minimal contact with Indian culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To examine the main and the stress-buffering effects of social networks on depressive symptoms among elderly Cuban men and women living in La Havana. Method: Information was gathered from a representative sample of the elderly population in Havana (n = 1905), as part of the SABE (Salud, Bienestary Enuejecimiento) study. Depressive symptoms were measured using the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale. The structure and function of social networks were studied. Gender-specific multivariate logistic regressions were fitted to test the main (independent of stressors) and the stress-buffering effects (in the presence of financial strain or disabilities) on depressive symptoms. Results: Social ties were associated with a lower prevalence of depressive symptoms in women and men independently of the presence of stressors. Women who were or had been married, lived in an extended family, and enjoyed balanced exchanges with relatives and children reported low prevalence of depressive symptoms. Men were less likely to report depressive symptoms if they were currently married, and did not live alone. Social networks buffered the effect of financial strain on depression, but not in the event of disability. Conclusion: In Cuba, networks centered on children and extended family were associated with low frequency of depressive symptoms, ruling contrary to common findings in developed societies. These living arrangements have an important role in buffering the impact of financial strain on depressive symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]