“No trabajaré pa' ellos”: Entrepreneurship as a form of state resistance in Havana, Cuba

John Vertovec

Economic Anthropology, 2021, vol. 8, issue 1, 148-160

Abstract: Strict state policies and regulations restrict private‐sector growth in Cuba. And yet, many people (scholars and others) view Cuban entrepreneurialism as a celebrated feature of recent Cuban economic transformations. Entrepreneurship usually surges under more liberalized circumstances, where resources are more readily available or individual economic actors are given opportunities to use their flexibility to innovate new or enhanced products and services that fill market gaps. In Cuba, however, the state maintains strong control over the economy, firmly regulating access to resources and restricting the possibilities for entrepreneurial growth and ingenuity. Furthermore, entrepreneurs are often pitted against the political‐economic morals of the state. And yet, Cubans continue to enter this precarious line of work. This article explores this contradiction, asking, why do entrepreneurs choose to engage in entrepreneurship in the first place, and how might their entrepreneurial activities help them respond to barriers left by the state? I draw from ethnographic research conducted in Havana (2018–19) to argue that entrepreneurship in Cuba is driven not just in spite of but also because of restrictive government policies and regulations and that entrepreneurial strategies can be innovative and flexible forms of state resistance.

Date: 2021
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