MIAMI, United States. – The Cuban-American professor Lisandro Pérez obtained the Award for Academic Excellence in Studies on Cuba corresponding to the year 2023 for the Latin American Studies Association (LASA).
The Prize Committee, made up of experts from various educational institutions, decided by majority vote to grant the award to Dr. Pérez for his academic work and pedagogical work in the area of Sociology, Anthropology and research on Cuban and Cuban-American history and society. , race and ethnicity, and US policy toward Cuba.
In the jury recordit is also recognized that Pérez’s work is an obligatory reference for the study of Cuban emigration to the United States.
Lisandro Pérez obtained his Ph.D. in Sociology from Florida International University (FIU) in 1974. Since 2010, he has been a professor at John Jay College of the City University of New York.
Since the 1970s he has written numerous articles published in various magazines, both American and Cuban. He has authored chapters, monographs, book reviews, editorial notes, newsletters, and documents for policy design and implementation, and has worked as editor of various compilations and of the magazine cuban studies.
Pérez also served as founding director of the Cuban Research Institute (CRI) from 1991 to 2003. In that role, he organized the Conference on Cuban and Cuban American Studies at FIU beginning in 1997 and established the first Program of Studies in Cuba for FIU students in the summer of 2001.
LASA’s Cuba Section is one of the main academic organizations dedicated to the study of the Island and its society. Founded in 1964, LASA is an international association of scholars, professionals, and activists committed to the study of Latin America and the Caribbean.
In May 2022, the Cuban professor and journalist José Raúl Gallegó denounced the inclusion of Colonel Abel Enrique González Santamaría, a high command of the Island’s Ministry of the Interior, in one of the panels organized by LASA.
The organization has also been singled out for its links with the Cuban government in order to promote “cultural exchange” between Cuba and the United States.
