The Politics of Nationalism and Status in Puerto Rico

2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 1083-1101 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Lecours ◽  
Valérie Vézina
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Puerto Ricans ◽  
Free Association ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Peculiar Feature ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
The Status ◽  
Puerto Rican Nationalism ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractOver the last several decades, nationalist movements in liberal democracies have challenged their community's relationship with the state. One such case that has drawn relatively little attention is Puerto Rico. A peculiar feature of Puerto Rican politics is that powerful nationalism coexists with several distinct status options: a reform of the current Commonwealth, statehood (becoming an American state), free association and independence. This article examines the various sources for Puerto Rican nationalism and discusses the relationship between nationalism and each of the status options. It also explains why none of the options has succeeded in gathering majority support amongst Puerto Ricans and why, therefore, the constitutional status quo has so far remained on the island.

The Politics of Status

2020 ◽  
pp. 34-53
Author(s):  
Amílcar Antonio Barreto
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Party System ◽  
Puerto Ricans ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Of The Union ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Status ◽  
Political Party System

Puerto Ricans, US subjects since 1898, were naturalized en masse in 1917. Congress did so to eliminate the possibility of independence from the US. That citizenship is the cornerstone of island-mainland relations for those advocating a continued relationship with the United States—either in the form of the 1952 Commonwealth constitution or statehood. The epicenter of Puerto Rican partisan life remains the status question. This remarkably stable political party system featured two strong parties of near-equal strength—the pro-Commonwealth PPD and its statehood challenger, the PNP— and a small independence party, the PIP. A core feature of the PNP’s platform has been estadidad jíbara—"creole statehood.” In theory, a future State of Puerto Rico would be allowed to retain its cultural and linguistic autonomy while attaining full membership as the 51st state of the Union.

Puerto Rico control board will squeeze debt holdouts

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Control Board ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Us History ◽  
Bright Spots ◽  
The Status ◽  
Pension Liabilities

Significance The announcement would mark the largest subnational bankruptcy in US history, with Puerto Rico facing debt obligations of 73 billion dollars from an array of public entities and 49 billion dollars of unfunded pension liabilities. Demonstrators on May 1 in the capital of San Juan criticised Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello’s administration, US lawmakers, the island’s federal fiscal control board and budgetary austerity. Impacts Mulled port improvements and electricity liberalisation reforms could offer some economic bright spots for Puerto Rico. A June referendum on Puerto Rico’s status is unlikely to clarify a path from the status quo as an indebted and unincorporated US territory. US President Donald Trump will oppose any congressional efforts to boost federal transfers to Puerto Rico. However, Democrats may attempt to secure greater funding in legislative negotiations to cater to urban expatriate Puerto Rican voters.

State contestations in constructions of 1Malaysia

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-65
Author(s):  
Mary Varghese ◽  
Kamila Ghazali
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The Public ◽  
Malaysian Population ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract This article seeks to contribute to the existing body of knowledge about the relationship between political discourse and national identity. 1Malaysia, introduced in 2009 by Malaysia’s then newly appointed 6th Prime Minister Najib Razak, was greeted with expectation and concern by various segments of the Malaysian population. For some, it signalled a new inclusiveness that was to change the discourse on belonging. For others, it raised concerns about changes to the status quo of ethnic issues. Given the varying responses of society to the concept of 1Malaysia, an examination of different texts through the critical paradigm of CDA provide useful insights into how the public sphere has attempted to construct this notion. Therefore, this paper critically examines the Prime Minister’s early speeches as well as relevant chapters of the socioeconomic agenda, the 10th Malaysia Plan, to identify the referential and predicational strategies employed in characterising 1Malaysia. The findings suggest a notion of unity that appears to address varying issues.

scholarly journals Constructing Spiritual Blackness

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Omar Ramadan-Santiago
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Puerto Ricans ◽  
Black Identity ◽  
Caribbean Region ◽  
African Continent ◽  
Imagined Community ◽  
Identification Process ◽  
Global Construction

Abstract In this article, I address how my interlocutors, members of the Rastafari community in Puerto Rico, claim that they identify with Blackness and Africanness in a manner different from other Black-identifying Puerto Ricans. Their identification process presents a spiritual and global construction of Blackness that does not fit within the typical narratives often used to discuss Black identity in Puerto Rico. I argue that their performance of a spiritually Black identity creates a different understanding of Blackness in Puerto Rico, one that is not nation-based but rather worldwide. This construction of Blackness and Black identity allows my interlocutors to create an imagined community of Blackness and African descent that extends past Puerto Rico’s borders toward the greater Caribbean region and African continent. In the first section, I discuss how Blackness is understood and emplaced in Puerto Rico and why this construction is considered too limiting by my interlocutors. I then address their own construction of Blackness, what I refer to as “spiritual Blackness,” and how they believe it diverges from Afro-Boricua/Black Puerto Rican identity. In the final section, I direct focus to how Africa is centralized in the construction of spiritual Blackness.

Spanish and Puertorriqueñidad

2020 ◽  
pp. 7-20
Author(s):  
Amílcar Antonio Barreto
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Puerto Ricans ◽  
Spanish American ◽  
Language Of Instruction ◽  
Holy Grail ◽  
Spanish American War ◽  
Official Languages ◽  
Puerto Rican Nationalism ◽  
Language Law

In the aftermath of the 1898 Spanish-American War, federal policymakers sought to transform Puerto Ricans from loyal Spaniards to trustworthy Americans. Public schools employing English as the language of instruction were the primary vehicles implementing this change. Behind this policy were deeply ingrained attitudes that took for granted the superiority of Anglo Saxons and, by extension, their English vernacular. Contrary to expectations, the Americanization effort backfired and even fueled Puerto Rican nationalism. The island’s intelligentsia took up the banner of preserving Puerto Rican identity (Puerto Ricanness) and canonized the Spanish language as a core feature of puertorriqueñidad. In tandem with a change in education policy was the adoption of a new language law—one that declared Spanish and English co-official languages of the Puerto Rican government. Repealing that law became a holy grail for the island’s nationalists.

Buenaventura Lakes

2020 ◽  
pp. 19-33
Author(s):  
Simone Delerme
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Real Estate ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Puerto Ricans ◽  
Central Florida ◽  
Country Club ◽  
Gateway Cities ◽  
Osceola County

Chapter 1 sets the scene in Osceola County, Florida. The chapter goes back to the 1970s, to the formation of an international consortium of real estate developers—“the Mexican Millionaires”—who used real estate marketing strategies and the visceral imagery of luxurious country club living to attract Puerto Ricans to the Buenaventura Lakes suburb. This historical chapter shows how instrumental these corporate partners were in fostering an awareness of Greater Orlando’s real estate opportunities on the island of Puerto Rico and in the Puerto Rican concentrated communities of New York and Chicago, and directing the flow of mainland and island Puerto Ricans towards Greater Orlando instead of the traditional gateway cities. As a result, they created one of the largest Puerto Rican-concentrated suburbs in Central Florida.

Rescued from their Invisibility: The Afro-Puerto Ricans of Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century San Mateo de Cangrejos, Puerto Rico

2007 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 551-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Stark
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Puerto Rico ◽  
National Identity ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Family Formation ◽  
Puerto Ricans ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Main Trunk ◽  
Marriage And Family ◽  
Fugitive Slaves

The black “root” has been systematically “uprooted” from the main “trunk” of the Puerto Rican nation.Jorge DuanyScholars who study Puerto Rico's past have struggled with the question of how to define the island’s national identity. Is the essence of Puerto Rican identity rooted in Spain, does it have its origins in Africa, in the legacy of the native Tainos, or is it a product of two or all three of these? This polemical question has yet to be resolved and remains a subject of much debate. The island's black past is often overlooked, and what has been written tends to focus on the enslaved labor force and its ties to the nineteenth-century plantation economy. Few works are specifically devoted to the study of the island's seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Afro-Puerto Rican population. Recent scholarship has begun to address this oversight. For example, the efforts of fugitive slaves and free black West Indian migrants making their way to Puerto Rico have been well documented. Yet, little is known about the number or identity of these runaways. How many slaves made their way to freedom in Puerto Rico, who were they, and where did they come from? Perhaps more importantly, what about their new lives on the island? How were they able to create a sense of belonging, both as individuals and as part of a community within the island's existing population and society? What follows strives to answer these questions by taking a closer look first at the number and identity of these fugitives, and second at how new arrivals were assimilated into their new surroundings through marriage and family formation while their integration was facilitated by participation in the local economy. Through their religious and civic activity Afro-Puerto Ricans were able to create a niche for themselves in San Juan and eventually a community of their own in Cangrejos. In doing so, they helped shape the island's national identity.

scholarly journals Aging in Puerto Rico: A Comparison of Health Status Among Island Puerto Rican and Mainland U.S. Older Adults

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 1056-1078 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Pérez ◽  
Jennifer A. Ailshire
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Health Status ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Puerto Ricans ◽  
Adult Population ◽  
Aging Research ◽  
Puerto Rican Women ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
Elderly Health ◽  
Older Adult Population

Objective: To characterize the health status of older island Puerto Ricans, a segment of the U.S. population that has been largely overlooked in aging research. Method: Data from the 2002 Puerto Rican Elderly Health Conditions Project and the 2002 Health and Retirement Study are used to examine differences in disease, disability, and self-rated health among island Puerto Ricans and the mainland U.S.-born older adult population. Differences are further examined by gender. Results: Island Puerto Ricans were less likely to have heart disease, stroke, lung disease, cancer, activities of daily living (ADL) limitations, and poor self-rated health, but more likely to have hypertension and diabetes. Island Puerto Rican women had worse health relative to island Puerto Rican men. Discussion: Recent challenges in the funding and provision of health care in Puerto Rico are worrisome given the large number of aging island adults, many of whom have hypertension and diabetes, two conditions that require long-term medical care.

Understanding Dynamic Transactions Between Personality Traits and Partner Relationships

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 411-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Mund ◽  
Christine Finn ◽  
Birk Hagemeyer ◽  
Franz J. Neyer
Keyword(s):  
Personality Traits ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
Functional Perspective ◽  
The Status ◽  
Partner Relationships ◽  
The One ◽  
Analysis Models ◽  
The Relationship

When examining the associations between personality traits and partner relationships, the majority of studies have focused on the one-way effects of personality traits on the quality and stability of relationships. Recent work, however, has shown that relationships likewise retroact on personality traits and their development. Apart from these mutual influences, recent studies have also emphasized the necessity of considering both members of a couple in order to understand how their personalities and perceptions of the relationship interact. We review the status quo of research on personality-relationship transactions and outline suggestions for future research that move the focus from predicting the interplay between the two domains to explaining how personality traits and partner relationships dynamically interact. Specifically, we propose the need for (a) a functional perspective on personality traits, (b) a differentiated view of behavior, and (c) acknowledgment of the dynamic nature of traits and relationships in appropriate analysis models.

Government Legitimacy and Religion

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Hoffman
Keyword(s):  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
Religious Tradition ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
First Century ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
The Status ◽  
Democratic Rule ◽  
Theological Differences ◽  
Infinite Variety ◽  
The Relationship

Despite the predictions of Marxists and secularization theorists alike, the relationship between religion and government legitimacy is mixed. Religion, in its various forms, can serve to promote regimes of virtually any type—democratic or otherwise—and can just as easily undermine such regimes. Observers hoping for a one-size-fits-all account of the link between religion and legitimacy will surely be disappointed; the reality is far more complicated. Religion, encompassing a nearly infinite variety of beliefs, behaviors, and actors, exercises a diverse set of influences on its political context. For regimes, this diversity can be either helpful or dangerous. Religion is neither inherently pro-status quo nor revolutionary; it can be either one depending on the context. Likewise, religion is neither necessarily pro- nor anti-democratic. Political and theological conditions influence the ways in which religion interacts with politics, and in particular, the role it plays in building or undermining legitimacy. Twenty-first-century research highlights the Janus-faced relationship between religion and political legitimacy. In some settings, religion has been the foundation of non-democratic rule. In others, it has been a crucial catalyst for unseating dictators in favor of democratic alternatives. Theological differences can only explain part of this variation. The same religious tradition may serve as a defense of authoritarianism in one instance but a spark for democracy in another. Political factors play a key role in explaining why religion sometimes supports the status quo but in other instances may fuel revolutionary fervor.

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