Eastman's research focuses on contemporary Cuba and Latin America and his interests include socialism/post-socialism, sports, and the relationships between nationalist rituals, moral authority, and political legitimacy. Specifically, his work is situated analytically and methodologically at the intersection of official interests with popular concerns in Cuban baseball during the post-Soviet "special period" in Cuban society. He examines how under the severe circumstances of the "special period" baseball may be a site where contradictions in socialist authority are made visible and in the process how the game can be infused with new meanings capable of redefining the legitimacy of the Cuban state.