Puerto Rico :: essays research papers

Identity CrisisThe effect of colonialism on a colonize deal can often result in a point relegate known to us today as an identity crisis. canvas the annals of Puerto anti-racketeering law under Spanish rule helps us to pick up the problems found indoors modern nonions of Puerto Rican identity. Such notions of home(a) identity fundament from the vox populi that Puerto anti-racketeering law is a "self-defined community of populate who share a find of solidarity based on a belief in a viridity heritage and who claim political rights that may include self-rule" (Morris 12). However, such modern notions of solidarity contradict the fact that by 1898 Puerto Rican parliamentary law was characterized by smashing racial and class differences. As claimed by Jos Luis Gonzlez in his Puerto anti-racketeering law The quatern Storeyed Country, these differences made "Puerto Rico a country so carve up racially, socially, economically and culturally that it should be described as cardinal countries rather than one" (Gonzalez14). The rise and fall of the inter subject sugar market, and the attendant restraint of the coffee market in the Puerto Rican economy, helped to create the "foreign elements" at bottom Puerto Rico that make modern views of Puerto Rican identity extremely problematic. The study and affair of recital has played an important role in helping to seduce the conceit of Puerto Rican national heritage. Francisco Scarano, in his Sugar and Slavery in Puerto Rico, 1815-1949 An Overview, asserts that notions of Puerto Rican national heritage father been portrayed as being an "anomalous incase" within the Americas. He writes that many historians have claimed that Puerto Rico had an "economy and society which positive an advanced sugar industry during ages of fairly unmannerly Atlantic slave trade, yet did not rely to any prodigious stratum on the labor of African slaves" (Scarano 25). This su ggests that the racial "heritage" of Puerto Ricans is not predominately black, and therefore, early(a) races must have attributed to this hybridity, as well. Moreover, it also suggests that because forced slaveholding was not widely practiced on the island, a notion of solidarity could have existed amongst the Puerto Rican people during the 19th Century. However, could this example also serve as a precedent for modern uses of history to reinforce perceptions of national identity? Unfortunately, the expand adjoin the islands social and economic structure at that particular(a) time prevent its history from serving as a fabric for national unity. In the 1840s, sugar became very important in the supranational market.Puerto Rico essays research papers Identity CrisisThe effect of colonialism on a colonized people can often result in a situation better known to us today as an identity crisis. Studying the history of Puerto Rico under Spanish rule helps us to identify the problems found within modern notions of Puerto Rican identity. Such notions of national identity stem from the belief that Puerto Rico is a "self-defined community of people who share a sense of solidarity based on a belief in a common heritage and who claim political rights that may include self-determination" (Morris 12). However, such modern notions of solidarity contradict the fact that by 1898 Puerto Rican society was characterized by great racial and class differences. As claimed by Jos Luis Gonzlez in his Puerto Rico The Four Storeyed Country, these differences made "Puerto Rico a country so divided racially, socially, economically and culturally that it should be described as two countries rather than one" (Gonzalez14). The rise and fall of the international sugar market, and the subsequent ascendancy of the coffee market in the Puerto Rican economy, helped to create the "foreign elements" within Puerto Rico that make modern views of Puerto Rican id entity extremely problematic. The study and use of history has played an important role in helping to construct the concept of Puerto Rican national heritage. Francisco Scarano, in his Sugar and Slavery in Puerto Rico, 1815-1949 An Overview, asserts that notions of Puerto Rican national heritage have been portrayed as being an "anomalous case" within the Americas. He writes that many historians have claimed that Puerto Rico had an "economy and society which developed an advanced sugar industry during times of fairly open Atlantic slave trade, yet did not rely to any significant degree on the labor of African slaves" (Scarano 25). This suggests that the racial "heritage" of Puerto Ricans is not predominately black, and therefore, other races must have attributed to this hybridity, as well. Moreover, it also suggests that because forced slavery was not widely practiced on the island, a notion of solidarity could have existed amongst the Puerto Rican people duri ng the 19th Century. However, could this example also serve as a precedent for modern uses of history to reinforce perceptions of national identity? Unfortunately, the details surrounding the islands social and economic structure at that particular time prevent its history from serving as a model for national unity. In the 1840s, sugar became very important in the international market.