New Books Network Erica Morawski, "Development Design: Hotels and Politics in the Hispanic Caribbean" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2025)
Mar 26, 2026
Erica Morawski, an associate professor at Pratt Institute who studies architecture and design in the Hispanic Caribbean, discusses hotel design as a lens on development and national identity. She examines imperial projects, state modernization plans, economic incentives, and how material choices and aesthetics shaped tourism in San Juan, Ciudad Trujillo, and Havana.
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Hotels As Tools Of Imperialistic Tourism
- Hotels were explicit instruments of U.S. imperialism in the Hispanic Caribbean, designed to reinforce visitors' sense of mastery over local places.
- The Gran Condado Vanderbilt (1919) used steamship networks, leisure activities like golf and motor touring, and promotional materials to shape 'imperialistic tourism'.
Hotels Built To Showcase State Modernity
- Authoritarian leaders used grand hotels as state projects to signal national modernity and bolster legitimacy through visible urban monuments.
- Machado's Hotel Nacional and Trujillo's Hotel Jaragua were positioned with train stations, capitols, and roads to create networks of modern urban symbols.
Hotels As Strategic Economic Investments
- Governments promoted hotels to attract investment and revenue, sometimes partnering with foreign operators to limit state risk.
- The Caribe Hilton (1949) was government-owned, Hilton-operated, and used modernist design and revenue-sharing to fund social projects under Operation Bootstrap.
