From scarcity to solidarity: How Cubans creatively access and share digital technology

In Havana, Cuba accessing the internet is rarely as simple as logging on. It might involve stretching limited mobile data, waiting in long lines, coordinating with relatives abroad for data top-ups or even carefully disassembling a smartphone in a suitcase before reassembling it at home.

New research by University of Michigan School of Information assistant professor Michaelanne Thomas and UMSI postdoctoral research fellow Sylvia Darling explores how people in Havana collectively and creatively adapt information and communication technologies (ICTs) to navigate ongoing scarcity and pursue what they understand as a “decent” life. 

Their paper, “Aspiring toward decency: Collectively and creatively appropriating information communication technology in Havana,” was recently published in New Media & Society. At the center of the research is the Cuban concept of “resolver.” While the word translates to “resolve” or “find a solution,” in Cuba it carries broader cultural meaning. Resolver describes a long-standing, collective practice of creatively acquiring necessities when formal or state-sponsored routes fall short. 

Drawing on more than 12 years of Thomas’s ethnographic research in Cuba, the study situates contemporary technology use within a broader history of collective survival and adaptation.

“I have long been curious about what drives this ethos of innovation from a Cuban standpoint,” says Thomas. “Where does it come from? Why do these practices exist?”

“The key part of this work is theorizing what I call ‘cultural making do,’” she adds. “These aren’t just ad hoc solutions to digital scarcity, they’re part of long-standing, relational practices of survival.”

Through interviews with residents in Havana, the researchers found that smartphones, messaging apps and online marketplaces have become embedded within these practices. People use them to locate scarce goods, coordinate purchases and reduce uncertainty in everyday life.

At the same time, accessing technology itself often requires creative workarounds. Participants described relying on relatives abroad to send mobile data credits, or finding informal ways to bring devices into the country when they are difficult to obtain through official channels.

Even then, access is rarely individual. Connectivity is frequently shared among family members, neighbors and friends, becoming part of broader systems of reciprocity that help communities navigate ongoing shortages.

For Thomas, these findings complicate common narratives about digital access. Rather than a simple story of increased connectivity leading to opportunity, the research shows how technology is folded into existing social and cultural systems that are shaped by both resilience and constraint.

“While there’s a tendency to celebrate grassroots technology use as purely innovative, these practices are also about collective coping with scarcity,” Thomas says. “There’s both ingenuity and ambivalence in how people navigate these conditions.”

While these practices reflect ingenuity and collective care, they also reveal the uneven realities of access. Digital technologies can both expand possibilities and reproduce inequalities, particularly in a context shaped by long-standing economic pressures and limited infrastructure.

“Access isn’t just something that arrives from the top down,” Thomas says. “These technologies are being incorporated into ongoing cultural practices, and they can both enable connection and reinforce exclusion.”

Amid a worsening humanitarian situation, marked by shortages of electricity, food and other essential resources, the study underscores that technology alone cannot resolve deeper structural challenges. Instead, it highlights how people continue to adapt, drawing on enduring cultural practices to navigate uncertainty and pursue what they understand as a “decent” life.

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Learn more about the work of UMSI assistant professor Michaelanne Thomas and UMSI PhD graduate Sylvia Darling by visiting their websites. 

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