Students in Dr. Monica Rankin’s HIST 4359 “The Cuban Revolution” course at the University of Texas at Dallas role-play for and against Fidel Castro in the virtual world, Second Life, as part of their graded course assignment on April 2011. This machinima (filmmaking in virtual technology) is “for” Castro. The second group role-played “against” Castro and the machinima is named No Country for Old Castro.

According to Latin American History Professor Dr. Monica Rankin, the intent was to have the students use primary and secondary sources of the pro-Castro and anti-Castro sides to create simulations in Second Life. Jenny Wakefield in the GEMS center took video of the class discussion that followed and she is doing a series of interviews with the students. I believe the videos will be posted in a couple od weeks.

This project was supported by the UT Dallas GEMS Center. Script, Role-Play, & Narration by HIST 4359 students. Virtual World Design, Machinima, and Editing by Jenny S. Wakefield. SL Scripting & Special Effects in-world by Jeffrey Smith. Executive Producer Dr. Scott J. Warren, Department of Learning Technologies, UNT.

Related articles

• Myth Making in the Cuban Revolution (renelio.wordpress.com)
• Castros embrace reform at Cuba’s communist congress (telegraph.co.uk)
• The Cuban Revolution Continues Victorious (cubandemocracy.wordpress.com)