Abstract
This paper presents an investigation of the economic being of a Cuban black-market reseller or a “merolica” in Spanish as a case study. This research adopts phenomenological qualitative method to approach field work in Cuba through the participant observation in the first phase and followed with interactions and communication electronically in the second phase. The study was pursued longitudinally from June 2022 to December 2023. This case study centers on the lived experiences of the merolica as the focal point. The scope of the study explicates her everyday concerns, her sense of being, and her livelihood as a merolica, enmeshed in global-state dynamics.The time-period endures through the midst, and the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The time-period marked a critical historical temporality in the Cuban national context, and subsequently sparked a migratory exodus of the Cuban youth from the island. This phenomenological research allows the merolica’s story to emerge. In this study, a Cuban street vendor etched her way attending to everyday needs and her experiences of angst through the acute scarcity. Her subjective feelings, her attributed values and meanings are disentangled. Tapping into her interior contours of consciousness and exterior material landscapes, the case study of qualitative phenomenology tells an average existence in an ordinary community as a socio-cultural phenomenon.
Presenters
YiShan LeaProfessor, Bilingual Education & TESL Program, Central Washington University, Washington, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Civic, Political, and Community Studies
KEYWORDS
Merolica, Black-market, Cuba, Scarcity, Economic being
