Cimarronaje Cultural

Lilian Lombera Herrera

Three seeds were planted by the first nations of these lands to nourish their communities: squash (calabaza), beans (frijoles), and corn (maíz). Known as the “three sisters, these plants like sisters complemented each other, balancing the soil to support the prosperity and abundance of the crops throughout the year. These plants were also offered to sacred deities in gratitude to nourish the mind and spirits of indigenous and African descendant people. The dynamic of these plants is reflected in the relationship between the three interdisciplinary projects that I have been working on which have been impacting multiple communities that the Tulane Mellon in Community Engagement program has supported. These projects integrated and balanced my previous experience as educator, curator and cultural producer working with arts, music, literacy, and educational and cultural exchanges between Cuba and New Orleans. The community-engagement nourished my research project for the Master’s in Latin American Studies at Tulane University as well. The artist Hugo Martínez understood these cultural experiences because of a synergy that was nurturing each project simultaneously, like the sister plants: squash, bean and okra (replacing corn to symbolically connect the maroon communities of New Orleans and Cuba).
The documentary film “Maestras Voluntarias” directed by Catherine Murphy (2022) and produced by the Mellon program, The Literacy Project, and Tres Musas Productions, tells the courageous history of the first Volunteer Teachers in Cuba in 1960 and the women who laid the groundwork for a massive National Literacy Campaign that would teach more than 707,000 Cubans how to read and write.
During “Getting Funky in Havana” a cultural event organized by Cimafunk and Cuban Educational Travel, I was able to create an educational and cultural exchange between New Orleans students from Trombone Shorty Foundation and Cuban students from Amadeo Roldan Music Conservatory. In collaboration with Horns to Havana and with the support of the Mellon program, this exchange included a full day of workshops with important musicians like Troy Andrew, Tarriona, Soul Rebel’s musicians, instrument donations to Cuban students, community lunch, and collective performance of New Orleans and Cuban students playing second-line and conga as part of the same ancestral musical and cultural connections.
As a result of my Master thesis “Diálogo entre Cimarrones: Afro-Cuban Funk and New Orleans Black Indians traditions” (2021), Queen Cherice Harrison- Nelson whom was a part of my Mellon cohort as a community leader became the subject of my research. Queen Cherice like Cimafunk express their maroon identities to question freedom, self-representation, and connect the maroon memory to new generations. During the “Getting Funky in Havana” experience the stage became a “palenque”, a community of African descendants’ artists in the African diaspora embodying maroon identities in contemporary performances beyond geographical, language, and political distances.

These seeds continue to grow and flourish, “Maestras Voluntarias” is now distributed by Women Makes Movies through a national educational network in the U.S. The film has inspired a new series of short testimonies to trace the memory of those volunteer teachers still alive and reflect on their role in the communities. This series is directed by two Cuban women living in Havana: Hip-Hop artist Magia and journalist Lusmila Lamothe. The goal is to connect teaching experiences in the community with new generations. The cultural and educational exchange organized with Horns to Havana has strengthened collaborations with Trombone Shorty Foundation. In November 2022 the cultural exchange was expanded to work in peripheral areas in Havana where international cultural exchange is more limited and less common. In January 2023 I organized a new educational and cultural exchange between Trombone Shorty students and Cuban students at Guillermo Tomás Music Conservatory in Guanabacoa, a working-class neighborhood connected to the Afro-Cuban cultural traditions, similar to New Orleans’s Treme neighborhood. This program included a full day of workshops, presentations, jam sessions, instrument donations, community lunch, and the collective performance of 50 students (8 from New Orleans, 42 from Cuba) opening the performance for Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue at Los Jardines de la Tropical.

Those cultural productions have been created by the communion of many people working, supporting, uplifting, and empowering artists, youth musicians, and communities in both cities. The people behind and collaborating with Horns to Havana, the Literacy Project, Tres Musas Productions, Trombone Shorty Foundation, Cuban Educational Travel, Gia Prima Foundation, Guardians of the Flames Maroon Society, alongside the Mellon Program in Community Engagement have made these cultural exchanges possible. They have been nourishing the soil to allow the three plants sisters to grow in abundance and prosperity. All my gratitude and respect to all of them.

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