Transformations in production systems and material cultures in a context of scarcity: the case of Havana cement, Cuba

Based on an ethnography carried out in Havana between 2021 and 2024, this article analyzes the production and circulation of building materials in Cuba, particularly cement. It examines the evolution of production systems, from the prefabricated socialist city (1960-1990) to the self-produced capital (since 1990), to the recent boom in imports, and shows how this has affected the city’s development in various ways. Building materials are governed by public policies and reveal the structural dysfunctions of the Cuban economy, affected by US sanctions since 1962. Solutions proposed to address shortages, through the institutionalization of scavenging and the recent promotion of imports, testify to the State’s gradual disengagement from the sector. The authorization of private imports calls the system’s sustainability into question, while the encouragement of artisanal and local production of materials reveals the ever-increasing role played by residents in managing shortages. The recycling and re-use of materials, the particular care taken with objects and the constrained architectural inventions are some of the strategies deployed by residents to cope with shortages. The changing social uses of these materials, loaded with meaning, values and sentiments, and the dual distribution channels — the social sector and the black market — also reflect the recomposition of an unequal Cuban society and underline the fragility of an increasingly contested socialist state.