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.

scholarly journals Educating the Mainland Public

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Indica Ayn Mattson
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Young Adult Literature ◽  
Publishing House ◽  
Spanish American ◽  
Spanish American War ◽  
White American ◽  
Political Sovereignty ◽  
Uncertain Future ◽  
Nancy Drew ◽  
Adventure Novels

This research focuses on two examples of young adult literature—Young Hunters in Porto Rico; or, the Search for a Lost Treasure, and A Yankee Lad’s Pluck: How Bert Larkin Saved His Father’s Ranch in the Island of Porto Rico—published by the Stratemeyer Syndicate and the syndicate’s league of mass-market imitators immediately following the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898. These imperialistic adventure novels coincided with the U.S. implementation of the doctrine of Americanization, or the American colonial mission to instruct Puerto Ricans in self-government and democratic values in anticipation for some uncertain future form of economic and political sovereignty for the island. Edward Stratemeyer built his vast fiction empire, the publishing house for such series as Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, upon imperial romances which glorified the events of the Spanish-American War and presented recently-acquired U.S. territories—such as Puerto Rico—as sites of adventure beyond mainland confines to a predominately male, teenage audience. Borrowing from an English literary tradition, these novels energized young, white, American men to act as willing participants in the imperial imagination while simultaneously instilling in them expectations for Puerto Rican behavior and identity.

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 Language in Puerto Rico

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amílcar Antonio Barreto
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
English Language ◽  
Policy Issue ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Spanish American ◽  
Official Language ◽  
Spanish American War ◽  
American Federation ◽  
American National Identity ◽  
Official Languages

Should Spanish be Puerto Rico’s sole official language, or should English be a co-official language? Answers to this question are inseparable from matters of cultural pride, nationalism, and political motivations. The island’s government was declared officially bilingual soon after the Spanish-American War. Attempts to overturn the 1902 official languages law failed until 1991 when Governor Rafael Hernández-Colón signed a bill declaring Spanish the sole official language. This updated book explores the complex machinations involved in promoting competing language policies in Puerto Rico since those first salvos in the language wars were launched three decades ago. Far from an isolated controversy, the clash over official languages in this US territory is inseparable from the larger debate over the island’s status and congressional views on the nexus between the English language and American national identity. Were it to become a separate country or remain a Commonwealth, federal policymakers could afford to ignore the island’s language deliberations. Statehood is a completely different matter. Members of Congress have disparate views on whether the American federation is capable or willing to accept a new state dominated by Spanish speakers. Political operatives in San Juan and Washington continue to exploit the island’s language policy issue as a weapon promoting or sabotaging congressional support for statehood. Far from an isolated issue, the Puerto Rico language controversy has been conscripted into the larger battle over American identity. Such debates cast doubts on the country’s willingness to embrace diversity and its commitment to the sacrosanct Civic Creed.

The Rise and Fall of Puerto Rico as a Social Laboratory, 1945–1965

1995 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Lapp
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Spanish American ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Spanish American War

Before the 1940s Puerto Rico was an obscure possession for most American social scientists, as indeed it was for most United States citizens. Conquered in the Spanish-American War, Puerto Rico was overshadowed in the American consciousness by its more tumultuous neighbor Cuba. To be sure, by the 1930s, there were sparks of interest among foundation staffs, New Dealers, and radicals in the plight of the Puerto Rican poor. Yet on the whole the island continued to merit only cursory attention.

The United States and the Economic Development of Puerto Rico

1952 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-59
Author(s):  
Harvey S. Perloff
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Sugar Industry ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spanish American ◽  
Spanish American War ◽  
Tariff Structures

Puerto Rico became an insular possession of the United States following the Spanish-American War in 1898. Shortly thereafter the island was brought within the monetary and tariff structures of the United States, and mainland capital began to flow into the island, especially in the form of investments in the sugar industry. These factors were mainly responsible for shaping the Puerto Rican economy and for tying it closely to the economy of the United States.

Indescribable Beings

2021 ◽  
pp. 30-70
Author(s):  
Marilisa Jiménez García
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Young People ◽  
Puerto Rican ◽  
Picture Books ◽  
Visual Media ◽  
Spanish American ◽  
Spanish American War ◽  
The Us ◽  
History Of

This chapter establishes literature for young people and school readers as prominent, visual media used by US and Puerto Rican writers, both those in the diaspora and Puerto Rico, throughout the history of the US and Puerto Rico relationship beginning in 1898 with the Spanish American War. This chapter analyzes several prominent picture books, and illustrated textbooks read in the US and PR, from a variety of authors including Ezra Jack Keats and Ángeles Pastor.

The Limits of Americanization

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosina Lozano
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
New Mexico ◽  
English Language ◽  
The United States ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Foreign Language Instruction ◽  
Language Of Instruction ◽  
Spanish American War ◽  
The Public

One of the key roles of the public school system at the turn of the twentieth century was to create U.S. citizens. The federal government supported educational efforts in the noncontiguous territories that the United States acquired during the Spanish-American War. While both Arizona and New Mexico remained territories until 1912, they never received any federal educational aid. Americanization efforts across the United States largely encouraged a move away from foreign language instruction in the public schools in favor of English as the language of instruction. The interests of Americanization advocates coincided with the move to segregate students of Mexican descent into separate schools and classrooms throughout the Southwest. Administrators claimed they separated ethnic Mexican students due to their inability to speak the English language fluently. Despite the segregation of many Spanish-speaking students across the Southwest, Spanish remained in many classrooms in New Mexico—especially in the northern counties. Spanish was used in schools with the early support of the territorial superintendent of instruction and the New Mexico Journal of Education who both recognized that the vast majority of students in those districts entered school as monolingual Spanish speakers.

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