Island in the Net

An exploration of Cubas emerging digital culture and Cubans creation of grassroots networks, digital black markets, and online spaces for public debate Until just a few years ago, Cuba was one of the least-connected countries in the world. But as digital technology has become increasingly available, Cubans have found inventive ways to work around such remaining barriers as slow speeds, high costs, and inadequate infrastructure. In Island in the Net, Steffen Khn examines Cubas nascent digital culture and how it has reconfigured the relationship between the state and its citizens. Khn shows that through innovations including sneakernets (the physical transfer of information by flash drives and other devices), digital black markets, and online spaces for political debates, Cubans have successfully challenged the governments monopoly on media and public discourse. Drawing on multisited ethnographic research, Khn documents Cubas digital awakening, from the introduction of accessible Wi-Fi in 2015 to the social mediafueled protests in July 2021. Cubans community-driven digital innovations, he suggests, could be models for potential alternatives to the current Big Techdominated internet. Each chapter in Island in the Net is accompanied by a multimodal anthropology work: a video game, interactive installations, video art, an ethnographic documentary, and an expanded cinema installation. These unique media, created with Cuban artist Nestor Sir and other local collaborators, bring the books argument vividly to life.