From Ricky Ricardo to Fidel Castro, from fine cigars to mojitos, from rumba girdles to conga lines, Cuba and all things Cuban have exerted an enduring hold on the American imagination. For Americans, Cuba has been both mirror and mirage: a magnified reflection of domestic anxieties as well as a beckoning oasis of otherness. Drawing on a broad range of sources (songs, movies, ads, novels, tourist brochures) this lecture by Havana-born, Miami-raised Columbia University professor Dr. Gustavo Pérez Firmat will explore the large role that this small island—so near and yet so foreign—has played in America’s psychology. Co-sponsored by FIU’s Cuban Research Institute and accompanying The Wolfsonian-Florida International University summer exhibition, Promising Paradise: Cuban Allure, American Seduction. Admission is free.