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Nationality: Cuban

Born Havana, Cuba, 1 October 1972.

Enrolment: September 2001

Completion: August 2005

Director of Studies: Prof. Colin Sparks

Second Supervisor: Dr Peter Goodwin

Thesis

The professional ideologies of the young Cuban journalists.

This thesis explores the shift in the professional culture of young Cuban journalists, which has taken them away from the ideology associated with the Communist Party's monopoly of media and brought them increasingly closer to the ideology of liberal journalism.

PhD Experience

The biggest obstacle I had to surmount in the course of my investigation was an enormous mass of water commonly known as the Atlantic Ocean. My object of study was thousands of kilometers away from London.  Very often I felt I was writing fiction, not social science. Students writing in London dissertations about their remote countries understand what I mean. In a sense, that physical and emotional detachment was a good thing. It brought to my thesis some degree of objectivity and, I would say, humility. From London, Cuba looked even smaller than it is, and so did my anger and despair.

In Cuba, anyway, I could not have written this thesis.  Well, that's not true, I could have written it, but I doubt any examining board would have passed it. The greatest advantage of writing my thesis in the University of Westminster was the intellectual freedom I enjoyed. Professor Colin Sparks, my supervisor, never attempted to impose his ideas on me or predetermine the results of my research. After some complaining, he even accepted my rather unconventional style of writing. Colin talked to me, a nobody, with the same respect and consideration he treats his equals. That, I know, is not very common. For a while, I doubted that I would ever finish the thesis. I was bored to death with it. Had my supervisor been the arrogant, disdainful, tyrannical type, I would have quit.  But Colin seemed to believe that I would finish, when I did not. He made it much easier.

And so did my fellow doctoral students. I had people whom I could talk to about anything, from politics to literature, from ancient history to Big Brother, from Habermas to Ronaldinho.  There was a relaxed, friendly atmosphere in the doctoral rooms: no serious rivalry, no bitterness or backstabbing, but solidarity and comradeship.  I guess the fact that almost all of us (actually, all of us!) were foreigners, helped:  no-one felt out of place (because, obviously, we all were). I am fiercely independent (and shy) and was not seen very often in the university, but every time

I went, I felt welcomed.  I found friends there, not just colleagues.

It took me four years to get a PhD, but in retrospect it seems that time passed very quickly.  Advice for the new students?  One:  make sure your thesis is really good!  I am not a shining model in any respect:  I wasted a lot of time, I spent months without doing much and I didn't even study for the viva.  Wrong, wrong, wrong.  But what counts at the end is the result:  make sure you pass, and then, move on, get a life.  I am not sure I got one. But the PhD got me a job and this nice little "Dr" thing I put now before my name. It's not entirely a waste of time, you know.

Publications

2005  The Cuban Propaganda War:  The Story of Elián González, in Javnost,

Vol 12 (1).