The Guantánamo Public Memory Project is thrilled to announce that Karen J. Greenberg will speak on December 14 at NYU’s King Juan Carlos Center as part of Why Remember Guantanamo? , the 2-day national dialogue to launch our traveling exhibit. Karen J. Greenberg, a noted expert on national security, terrorism, and civil liberties, is Director of the Center on National Security. She is the…

On November 13, 2001 President Bush issued a military order that would forever change the socio-political landscape of Guantánamo Bay and determine the fate of detainees throughout and beyond the War on Terror. Titled “Detention, Treatment and Trail of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism,” this act disregarded the role of international and domestic…

After the Spanish-American War, in 1903 the U.S. leased Guantánamo Bay, 45 square miles, from Cuba. The U.S. used Guantánamo Bay as a naval station.  After the September 11, 2001 attack, the U.S. declared a “War on Terror.”  The war on terrorism was a worldwide effort. The main targets were Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.  The U.S.…

After fully immersing myself in the history of the naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, I am surprised at how much history I was unaware of at the site. With Guantánamo constantly on my mind, I find myself striking up conversations with anyone and everyone regarding their opinions on the current status of the base.…

When the September 11th terrorist attacks occurred, I was a young teenager developing a personal interest in the world around me and the politics that controlled it. However, there wasn’t much to discuss in the aftermath of 9/11. President Bush had announced that “either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists,” and…

  There is a never-ending debate in library science on what types of content should be withheld from the bookshelves. Subjects like pornography seem like a universal “no.” But between the obvious “yeses” and “noes,” there are shades of gray, as with the recent controversy over the popular E.L. James novel. Without clear-cut lines, it…

“What is prestige? Is it the shadow of power or the substance of power? -John F. Kennedy After the September 11th attacks and the subsequent War on Terror, the crux of the shadow power of America has resided at the US Naval station at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Some of the most poignant and affecting pictures…

If you are a politically conscious person in the least, you probably have an opinion on Guantánamo Bay, the American Naval Base cum Temporary Detention Center for Haitian/Cuban Refugees cum Indefinite Detention Center for Enemy Combatants, quixotically located on the southeastern edge of Communist Cuba. Though the existence of the base has been public knowledge…

The location of a space is not merely geographical, mappable via GPS and defined by a specific longitude and latitude or address. A space is also a concept, positioned within an ambiguous region (e.g. the South) or only in a perceptual region (e.g. the good old South), and is defined by integral sociopolitical characteristics. The latter…

  From the United States’ imperialist pursuits in the War of 1898 to Guantánamo Bay’s camps for Cuban and Haitian refugees, the U.S. naval base in Cuba has been a space of contention.  In the post-9/11 world, President George W. Bush’s War on Terror has shaped the purpose and international public image of Guantánamo.  The…