Art and artistical education as a transformative practice: Cuban stage humor and cultural decolonization

Abstract

Art and arts education functioned as transformative practices by fostering shifts in perspective, critical awareness, and cultural reaffirmation. This article aimed to determine how Cuban stage humor, a form of comedic theater, contributed to socio-cultural transformation and the development of decolonial thinking. The study was conducted using a qualitative approach with a hybrid methodological design that integrated theoretical and empirical tools, allowing stage humor to be analyzed as a dynamic sociocultural practice. At the theoretical level, the inductive method was used to derive generalizations from the analysis of specific elements, while the historical-logical method enabled the contextualization of the phenomenon from its 19th-century roots to its contemporary expressions. At the empirical level, data triangulation was achieved through expert interviews, bibliographic review, and documentary analysis, as well as participant observation, in which the researcher assumed a dual role as creator and performer, providing an autoreferential perspective on creative processes. Key elements of Cuban stage humor—social satire, self-referentiality, and the adaptation of vernacular theatrical traditions—were systematized as educational and emancipatory tools. The results showed that this form of humor, by drawing on social reality and ridiculing its contradictions, promoted critical reflection and challenged Eurocentric paradigms. In conclusion, its value in arts education was highlighted as a means to transform cultural awareness from a social change perspective.