Erica Morawski, "Development Design: Hotels and Politics in the Hispanic Caribbean" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2025)

About this episode

Dr. Erica Morawski discusses her book on the intersection of hotel design and politics in the Hispanic Caribbean.

Underneath picturesque views of palm trees, fruity cocktails in hotel lounges, and day trips to preserved colonial zones lies a history of tourism design that intersects with larger projects of development and national and cultural identity formation. Locating modernity and coloniality as the key framework within which tourism development takes place, Development Design: Hotels and Politics in the Hispanic Caribbean (U Pittsburgh Press, 2025) by Dr. Erica Morawski focuses on hotel design and its relation to larger urban and rural landscapes to uncover the way these seemingly carefree spaces are bound to local politics and international relations. Focusing on three sites in the Hispanic Caribbean—San Juan, Ciudad Trujillo, and Havana—Dr. Morawski traces different attitudes and approaches to tourism and its material design through five hotels that serve as case studies. Through examination of wicker chairs and lobby interiors, architecture and landscaping, public works and urban planning, Development Design illustrates the integral role hotel design played in negotiated and contested histories of development in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba. This interview was…

People in this episode

Host: Miranda Melcher

Guest: Erica Morawski

Topics covered

• tourism design
• hotel architecture
• cultural identity
• politics
• Hispanic Caribbean
• urban planning

Keywords

• hotel design
• tourism
• coloniality
• modernity
• urban landscapes
• development

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: U Pittsburgh Press

Places: Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, San Juan, Ciudad Trujillo, Havana

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