Puerto Rican Diaspora

If, according to turn-of-the-twentieth-century observers, black Puerto Ricans were destined to become racially white in a few generations, how did 12.4 per cent of the population manage to remain black in 2010? And how did they survive in the face of both national and everyday forms of racism? How is the persistence and even increase in black identity in Puerto Rico supported? This article argues that there is a covert and largely unexplored social current at work in regard to how black Puerto Ricans live and reproduce their blackness. This is the desire to maintain and celebrate blackness. Using ethnographic data gathered during nearly two decades, the article illustrate that many Puerto Ricans have chosen not to engage in blanqueamiento, instead affirming their blackness, marrying within their communities, and valuing their own cultural practices and beliefs.

To truly comprehend the Statehood Movement in Puerto Rico (1967-present), we must examine a complicated timeline from Spanish colonization (1493-1898) through American occupation (1898-present) and modern Puerto Rican Nationalist/ Socialist Party (1922-present) ideologies. This analysis includes focusing on the difficulties of cultural reclamation and

To truly comprehend the Statehood Movement in Puerto Rico (1967-present), we must examine a complicated timeline from Spanish colonization (1493-1898) through American occupation (1898-present) and modern Puerto Rican Nationalist/ Socialist Party (1922-present) ideologies. This analysis includes focusing on the difficulties of cultural reclamation and political independence after centuries of cultural appropriation and indoctrination through political imagery and actions. The modern Borikén faces monumental roadblocks when attempting to grasp a concrete independence plan after centuries of subjugation. The argument is that this hesitancy is built on a complex foundation of generational trauma and desensitization. With cultural reclamation is at the forefront of American political discourse, the goal is to examine if it is responsible to pursue an anti-colonial movement without quantifiable accountability from the American government. Furthermore, should this reckoning be under the guide of an independent Puerto Rico, focused on reclaiming its cultural and political identities, or under the eye of a government that has fostered their subjugation for centuries.

One year since Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017, nearly 160,000 residents of the island have relocated to the United States. This exodus represents one of the most significant movements of Puerto Ricans to the U.S. mainland in the island’s history in terms of both volume and duration. The new emigration estimates — of 159,415 with an upper bound confidence interval of 176,603 — is as high as the net migration flow in the previous two years combined (144,801).

El estudiante de licenciatura de Atlantic International University ,William Martínez Martínez, redacta una tesis sobre la migración de puertorriqueños hacia los Estados Unidos; sus causas y repercusiones económicas para la isla de Puerto Rico.

La nueva versión de WSS hace un excelente trabajo situando la historia en una más justa perspectiva. No se limita a la mera rivalidad entre pandillas sin causas, sino que elabora sus contornos económicos, culturales, raciales y de género. La nueva versión confronta la rigidez estructural centrada en la música de Bernstein y la letra de Sondheim. Aun así, Spielberg alteró los fundamentos de esta estructura insertando la versión revolucionaria de la Borinqueña, posiblemente el cambio más atrevido de la producción. A no ser porque la letra del himno borinqueño la compuso una mujer (Lola Rodríguez de Tió), el público puertorriqueño se habría inclinado justamente a ver esta cara de esa historia como una versión en la que los hombres invocan su nacionalidad para imponer respeto, dignidad y hombría a la vez que urge la dignidad entre las mujeres, aunque inclinadas a adaptarse a la sociedad norteamericana. Sin embargo, de principio a fin, la secuencia anímica de la historia comienza con la afirmación nacional, seguido de conformismo y sujeción a las normas culturales, luego la decepción ante el rechazo, concluyendo con un sentido de reafirmación. Es la otra cara de esa historia.

Rincón Criollo is a form of community organization in which control of one's immediate environment is achieved through the use of traditional expressive culture. Traditional knowledge and skills are employed in transforming order out of the chaos that characterizes the post-industrial landscape. Folklife the total range of traditional culture found at the casita, is not a static holdover mindlessly perpetuated by migrant members. Rather, it is a dynamic, active process whereby individuals creatively reinterpret past symbols, "attributing meaning in the present through making reference to the past." Or as Rincón Criollo's 1989 president Jose Rivera succinctly stated in regards to adapting Puerto Rican traditions to the South Bronx, "You have to keep on inventing" (14 May 1989). Thus domestic architecture and landscape long associated with Puerto Rico's working and unemployed poor serves as the model for this community-based mutual help and cultural organization built on the ruins of the South Bronx.

This is a short reflective essay on the 50th anniversary of Chicago's 1966 Division Street Riots, widely considered the first urban uprising in a Puerto Rican barrio. Drawing on the political theory of Jacques Rancière, the essay describes the riot as a political act of interruption. It was published in the Fall 2016 issue of CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies. The issue focuses on Puerto Rican Chicago. https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/library-publications/publications/centro-journal

The Chief of the Insular Police made the following statement to the press:

“We regret the events in which five citizens lost their lives. But the police has strict orders to enforce the “Law” prohibiting the carrying of arms. It would be anarchy if we allowed armed people to walk freely on our streets constantly threatening our peace and tranquility. I’m not disposed to tolerate this state of disorder. Every citizen has the right to express and defend his political principles, but within the order and serenity which should characterize the actions of every citizen. No one has the right- unless properly authorized- to carry an illegal weapon and to establish a state of mayhem in the community.

If anyone persists in committing these crimes, I will let them know that there will be war, war without end, not against politicians, but against criminals. Whoever resists arrest by an agent of the public order, is a criminal and a savage.”

This chapter reviews the scholarly dispute over Schomburg's two legacies--the Afro-American versus the Boricua/Latino Caribbean--to propose ways to think beyond the "either black or Latino" dualism and reassess Schomburg's achievements as subaltern archivist as constitutive for the acknowledgment and study of afrolatinidades by examining the evolving structures of Latino and African-American mentorship present throughout his career.

Towns of Enchantment for the Island of Enchantment (Pueblos del Encanto para la Isla del Encanto) is a comprehensive program that is proposed as a strategic tool for the development of competitiveness and sustainability of Puerto Rican destinations through the quality standard of a brand and the enhancement and showcasing of its heritage assets. The brand seeks to detonate expectations in the potential visitor based on the national imaginary of "enchantment", and thereby attract them to consume the Puerto Rican cultural heritage.

The research conceptualizes and models an innovation product for Puerto Rico with the purposes of: a) decentralizing the touristic offer and generating an increase in the territorial dispersion of demand,  b) elevating the competitiveness of the destination, and c) generating sustainable economic development for the benefit of its residents.

Inspired by Mexico’s  “Pueblos Mágicos” Program, and based on the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, the research presents the conceptual branding for Pueblos del Encanto, and the process and proposed guidelines for incorporation and membership in the Pueblos del Encanto Program, a program that would designate a Puerto Rican locality as worthy of the brand.

The research illustrates the impact of the application of several of the program guidelines as per the pilot study conducted in the municipality of Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, and presents strategic tourism development plans for this town.
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Pueblos del Encanto para la Isla del Encanto es un programa integral que se propone como herramienta estratégica para el desarrollo de la competitividad y sostenibilidad de destinos puertorriqueños mediante el standard de calidad de una marca y la puesta en valor de sus activos patrimoniales. La marca persigue detonar expectativas en el visitante potencial fundamentadas en el imaginario nacional "del encanto", y con ello atraerlo a consumir el acervo cultural puertorriqueño.

La investigación conceptualiza y modela un producto de innovación para Puerto Rico con el propósito de descentralizar la oferta turística y generar aumento en la dispersión territorial de la demanda, elevar la competitividad del destino, y generar desarrollo económico sostenible en beneficio de sus residentes.

Inspirada en el Programa Pueblos Mágicos de México, y fundamentada en los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible de las Organización de las Naciones Unidas, la investigación presenta el branding conceptual para Pueblos del Encanto, y el proceso y lineamientos propuestos para la incorporación y pertenencia al Programa Pueblos del Encanto, programa que designaría a una localidad puertorriqueña como merecedora de la marca.

La investigación ilustra cómo se vería la aplicación de varios de los lineamientos del programa en el municipio de Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico (localidad que fungió de piloto para el estudio) y presenta planes de desarrollo estratégico turístico para esta localidad. 

En función de los resultados obtenidos y la ilustración de los lineamientos en el municipio piloto, se concluye que la propuesta tiene alto potencial de replicabilidad. Se percibe que las posibilidades de generalizar el modelo son altas, y que muchas otras localidades en Puerto Rico podrán servirse de la metodología empleada como herramienta estratégica para el desarrollo de su competitividad y sostenibilidad.

This paper is in two parts. The first analyzes approximately 45 documents obtained from the Archivo General de Puerto Rico by Prof. Robert C. McGreevey, a professor of history at the College of New Jersey. They detail the efforts made by families living in Puerto Rico who were trying to ascertain the whereabouts of their loved ones who were part of the first wave of Puerto Rican workers who let the island seeking better fortunes in the sugar cane fields of Hawaii. The second part focuses on the demographics, economics, and genealogy of Puerto Ricans up to 1972.

Como muchos jóvenes universitarios latinoamericanos de los años 60 del siglo XX, me interesé por la sociología y las ciencias políticas para tratar de entender y contribuir a transformar la sociedad y el mundo en el que vivíamos, dominado por valores e intereses contrarios al idealismo justiciero que compartíamos. Al tratarse académicamente de disciplinas, estas conllevaban tradiciones de saberes acumulados (metodológicos, conceptuales, en debate…). Y para aprovecharlas e incluso para modificarlas o transformarlas era necesario conocerlas y adiestrarse sólida y críticamente en sus prác-ticas. Para ello, muchos latinoamericanos buscamos prepararnos en los centros académicos de mayor abolengo en el “primer mundo”. Como puertorriqueño, tenía más posibilidades de conseguir ayudas económicas para mis estudios de posgrado en los Estados Unidos gracias a los logros de las muy loables luchas de las llamadas “minorías”. Admiraba el desafío de mis hermanos nuyoricans (puertorriqueños de Nueva York), y comprendía que bien merecían la llamada “acción afirmativa”. Pero como puertorriqueño residente en Puerto Rico, me sentía (me siento y vivo) más como latinoamericano que como miembro de una “minoría” en la potencia metropolitana colonial de mi país.

By bringing together a close reading of Our Latin Thing with archival materials and interviews with fans, musicians, and music industry personnel, I trace how the music’s commodity form both reflected and informed an emerging Nuyorican subjectivity. I begin by providing a brief history of Fania Records that focuses on its origins as a small independent label, its development of salsa as a cultural product, and the fate of its legendary catalog after the label closed its doors in the early 1980s. This historical context provides the foundation for an overview of the production history for Our Latin Thing and an analysis of the ways the film contributed to salsa’s commercialization and increasingly transnational flows. I go on to show how the film’s representation of salsa alongside the reductionist narratives of Puerto Ricanness illuminate both the possibilities and contradictions of the 1970s salsa “boom.” Ultimately, I demonstrate that New York’s Puerto Rican communities both participated in and exceeded the music’s representation within the film.

Según nuestros más sobresalientes e importantes historiadores, la libreta del jornalero fue una medida tomada por el gobierno español para regular el empleo durante el periodo de tiempo del gobierno colonial español en Puerto Rico. Para ser específico esta media se dio en Puerto Rico del 1838 al 1839 bajo el gobernador Miguel López de Baños y Luego bajo otra ley más represiva durante el 1847 hasta el 1873 (tres meses antes de la disolución de la esclavitud, la medida fue eliminada) el gobernador Juan de la Pezuela obligo al trabajador asalariado a ser sometido por las industrias y el propio gobierno a restringir y controlar a los obreros su horario de trabajo, días libres y compromisos de trabajo con el patrono (Industria o fabrica) so pena de cárcel y/o multas.

En los años cincuenta, soldados hispanos que en su mayoría habían combatido bajo bandera estadunidense en la guerra de Corea, sufrieron una serie de trastornos que desconcertaron por completo a los médicos del ejército. Los afectados padecían repentinos ataques de furia, sufrían convulsiones, entraban en trances de ansiedad o de pánico fantaseando combates de vida o muerte contra un enemigo imaginario. La amnesia final coronaba esa panoplia de reacciones. A pesar de que los síntomas parecían ser compatibles con la presencia de severos daños neurológicos, se descartó la etiología orgánica. Perplejos, los médicos se creyeron obligados a indexar la rara enfermedad bajo alguna denominación. Dado que parecía que solamente los puertorriqueños sufrían estos trastornos, a los médicos les pareció razonable proponer la existencia de una alteración mental que podía definirse en términos geográficos y culturales.
Internándose en toda la complejidad inherente al significado del diagnóstico de “síndrome puertorriqueño” este libro demuestra cómo la realidad social opera en el inconsciente. Curiosamente, el síndrome puertorriqueño repite las manifestaciones clásicas de la histeria que más de un siglo atrás llevaron a Sigmund Freud a crear un tratamiento revolucionario —el psicoanálisis— , que abrió la vía al inconsciente. ¿Pura coincidencia? ¿No habrá algo más?
Este trabajo explica de manera exhaustiva, rigurosa y sagaz, el síndrome puertorriqueño en su dimensión histórica, cultural, social y política sin dejar de revisar ningún aspecto teórico del psicoanálisis. Con una argumentación sólida y convincente, esta investigación surgida de la práctica clínica cotidiana con latinos marginales de los barrios más pobres de Filadelfia, revela el racismo de las prácticas sanitarias proponiendo la alternativa de una clínica psicoanalítica. Al mismo tiempo, restaura para los latinos del gueto la dignidad de la categoría de sujeto del inconsciente, merecedor de una escucha. Este libro esclarece qué fue, qué es y que puede ser en el futuro, el síndrome puertorriqueño.

Research focused on Latinas/os in higher education often examines patterns of failure, while neglecting factors that contribute to Latina/o generational familial success. This article focuses on intergenerational strategies taught within college-educated Puerto Rican households that assist in academic achievement and success in higher education. Delgado Bernal theorized pedagogies of the home to explain co-constructed cultural knowledge within Chicana/o households to challenge deficit perspectives. Through analysis of educational oral histories of four college-educated Puerto Rican families, pedagogies of the home are extended. The Puerto Rican college-educated children demonstrate sin pelos en la lengua (without mincing words), contradictions among college completers, and pa’lante siempre pa’lante (always moving forward) as strategies employed in navigating higher education. In rearticulating, pedagogies of the home for the Puerto Rican community, institutions of higher education can better respond to the various experiences of Latinas/os.

Drawing from two data sets – one focused on students in high school actively engaged in the process of college choice, the other centering the perspectives of college graduates and their parents reflecting back on the process – this article critically examines the journeys of DiaspoRican students trying to gather information and make informed decisions about college choice. The authors focus on three ‘sites’ where students reported seeking and receiving information about the college going process – schools, parents, and community. The implications of this study suggest that understandings of college choice need to be complicated – or as we argue, RicanStructed – to center the experiences of specific groups of students of color, account for variation in the college choice processes within and across groups, and reflect more race and culture conscious approaches to increasing diversity in higher education.

This article investigates the formation of contemporary Puerto Rican farm labor in the United States and is based on a survey of farmworkers conducted from July through November of 2010 in the Northeast. We argue that this labor force is constructed, organized, and maintained by the following: labor-market conditions, including high unemployment in Puerto Rico and higher wages in the United States; circular migration and social networks among seasonal agricultural workers; U.S. citizenship of Puerto Rican workers and the legal requirements of employers to give native workers preference in hiring for agricultural jobs; and, finally, factors contributing to the social isolation of Puerto Rican seasonal workers, such as few ties to the local communities in which they work and poor English-language skills. Puerto Rican farmworkers offer a prime example of open-border seasonal migration for examination by scholars and policy makers concerned with agricultural guest-worker programs. This case study provides insights into how policies, experiences, and conditions in farm labor may or may not be related to the workers' legal status, but rather to the labor-market dynamics and social conditions affecting them. [Key Words: farmworkers, labor migration, circular migration, working and living conditions]

Este artículo propone una lectura detenida de la novela Fe en disfraz (2009), de Mayra Santos-Febres con el propósito de examinar el reciclaje de un pasado esclavista que denuncia tanto el proceso de erotización de las relaciones de dominación y sumisión, como la reproducción de estas dinámicas en las sociedades poscoloniales. En este contexto, el artículo explora las posibles subversiones de las dinámicas tradicionales de poder en las relaciones interraciales.

The book presents a collection of brief poems that can be read while walking down the street.  This is a project in which the author and the press are trying to bring poetry out in the open for a new generation of readers.  Following the esthetics of the Antipoesía conversacional hispanoamericana [Spanish American conversational poetry], the lyrical voice engages the reader in universal topics related to this modern world that we live in, such as love, sex, travel, nostalgia, the act of aging, the role of literature in life, etc.  All of this in a language that is accessible to all readers.

You can order it at:  http://www.gandhi.com.mx/poemas-para-leerse-en-la-calle

In 2012, The L'Oreal Group launched a somewhat unorthodox marketing campaign for their " True Match " foundation, which included both print advertisements and tv commercials , and originally featured three specifi c celebrities: Beyoncé Knowles, Jennifer López, and Aimee Mullins. Going beyond the " different hues " approach usually promoted by these types of commercials and advertisement, L'Oreal presented consumers with the ethnic background of each celebrity: Beyoncé Knowles was described as African American, Native American, and French; Mullins was characterized as Irish, Austrian, and Italian; and Jennifer López was pronounced 100% Puerto Rican. This essay focuses on Jennifer López's advertisements, as the claim to 100% Puerto Ricanness carries implications for conceptions of both Puerto Rican and Latina identity in the 21st Century U.S. This is especially key when considering the effects of marketed and marketable appeals to racial and ethnic authenticity in the construction of racial and ethnic identity and racial and ethnic labels. [

En los 50´s, soldados hispanos que en su mayoria habian combatido bajo bandera estadounidense en la guerra de Corea, sufrieron una serie de trastornos que desconcertaron a los medicos del ejercito. Los afectados padecian repentinos ataques de furia, sufrian convulsiones, entraban en trances de ansiedad o de panico fantaseando combates en vida o muerte contra un enemigo imaginario, culminando en una amnesia final. Obligados a indexar la rara enfermedad bajo alguna denominacion, a los medicos les parecio razonable proponer la existencia de una alteracion mental que podia definirse en terminos geograficos y culturales. Este libro demuestra como la realidad social opera en el inconsciente, explicando de manera exhaustiva, rigurosa y sagaz el sindrome puertorriqueno en su dimension historica, cultural, social y politica sin dejar de revisar ningun aspecto teorico del psicoanalisis. Con una argumentacion solida y convincente, revela el racismo de las practicas sanitarias proponiendo la alternativa de una clinica psicoanalitica, restaurando al mismo tiempo, para los latinos del gueto, la dignidad de la categoria de sujeto del inconsciente.

Buenas Tardes Amig@s: Aquell@s amig@s que estén interesados en mi libro titulado “Vudú en Puerto Rico” pueden obtenerlo a través de Amazon.com por medio electrónico “Kindle”, su precio es de $7.94 y si tiene “Kindle Unlimited” lo puede leer gratis… ¡Saludos!

This dissertation examines patterns of phonological variation in two Puerto Rican (PR) communities with different kinds of language contact situations. It compares a community where Puerto Rican Spanish (PRS) is the only language spoken by most of the population (Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico) with a community where PRS is a minority language (Grand Rapids, Michigan). I
describe the sociolinguistic distribution of (rr), (r), and (l)—, focusing on their stigmatized realizations: velarization ([x]), lateralization ([l]), and rhotacization ([ɾ]), respectively.

Besides the contributions of linguistic context, life stage and gender, I explore whether the degree of integration into the PR community of the 22 informants on the Island and the 20 participants on the mainland offers explanatory insight to differences between the communities in terms of the
variables' distribution. I consider the speakers' perceptions of national identity—based on the meanings and uses of the word boricua, typically associated with core Puerto Ricanness—and I explore whether those judgements relate to the use of [x], [l] and [ɾ] in the two communities.

The general distribution of (rr) was very similar in the two populations, and that was also the case for (l), but the samples contrasted in the distribution of (r). Although the main realizations of (rr) and (r) were strongly conditioned by linguistic environments in the two communities, differences were found in their social conditioning. Variable (l) did not show meaningful sociolinguistic variability in either location.

As regards (rr) and (r), the following patterns emerged in both
communities: women favored the prescribed variants ([r] and [ɾ]); middle- age speakers favored the stigmatized realizations; men favored [ɾ], the innovative variant of (rr); and women and adolescents favored [ɹ̝], the non- prescribed, non-stigmatized variant of (r).

Differences in the level of integration into the PR community did not influence the sociolinguistic distribution of (rr), but had an effect on the distribution of (r). Also, speakers related [x] and [l] to the linguistic projection of core Puerto Ricanness, and I associate the preference of a different variant to describe typical boricua speech in each location with differences in the demographic composition of the communities.