¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ, Stadscampus, Het Brantijser, TBD
Tuesday 9 June 2026, 12.30-14.00
During this PoHis-seminar, Rafael Pedemonte will present his research project: "The Cuban Revolution reassessed: Legitimacy Crisis and Collapse of the Fulgencio Batista Regime (1952-59)".
Rafael Pedemonte is a Chilean historian and professor of Hispanic culture in the Department of Applied Linguistics, Translation and Interpreting Studies at the University of Antwerp. Before joining ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ in 2025, he worked at the University of Poitiers for five years, where he coordinated a three-year international research project entitled CUBANEXUS: Cultural and Scientific Mediators between Cuba and French-Speaking Europe (1952-1971). A specialist in the Cold War in Latin America, particularly in Cuba, he is the author of Les relations Cuba-France à travers le regard de médiateurs et médiatrices (Arts, sciences et politique, 1952–1971) (2025) and Guerra por las ideas en América Latina, 1959–1973: Presencia soviética en Cuba y Chile (2020). His next book, on the first generation of Cuban students in the USSR in the 1960s, will be published in Spain this year. His current research follows two main lines: on the one hand, he examines the role of cultural mediators in shaping interactions, networks, and representations between Latin America and Europe; on the other, he analyzes the deeper causes of the Cuban Revolution from a comparative, state-centered perspective, focusing on the mechanisms that lead to the collapse of pre-revolutionary regimes.