When the Subaltern Speaks: Challenging Normative IR Discourse Through a Study of Cuba’s International Relations

International Relations continues to be a predominantly Eurocentric field of study. The dogmatic theories such as Realism and Neorealism are still built through perspectives of the West. Through an interpretive analysis of the October Crisis of 1962 and a postcolonial critique of Cuba’s post-1898 politics, by using speeches, articles, interviews and letters of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara normative treatise of security studies is critiqued. Any postcolonial approach must be considered through four key factors: the representation of power, the applicability of agency, self-determination, and forms of knowledge production. This analysis introduces a new perspective of Subaltern realism as a postcolonial critique of realism and as an approach for production of IR discourse.