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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MILWAUKEE
LATIN AMERICAN CARIBBEAN AND US LATINO STUDIES
Puerto Rican History and Migration
LACS/LATINO 200
PROFESSOR JOSE M ACEVEDO
SPRING 2013
Contact Information: Dr. Acevedo; Tel.-(414) 837-8116; E-mail-jose.acevedo@Live.com
Office Hours: By appointment at TBA
Class Location and Time: _____________—5:00-7:40; Bolton _________
I. Course Description
This course aims at achieving an understanding of the macro-level political, socioeconomic and historical factors affecting Puerto Rican migration to the United States (mainland)
since 1898 (U.S. invasion) to the late 70s. We will approach the issues of migration departing
from the understanding that U.S. interventions, i.e., military and political, are behind the massive
movement of Puerto Ricans to the mainland The United States also arbitrated the Puerto Rican
economy. We also depart from the assumption that the landscape of the Puerto Rican economy
was shaped and re-shaped due to global capitalism (through the last century) but strictly
facilitated by U.S. capital. In a very short amount of time, Puerto Rico (the Island) experienced
an economic transformation that affected not only employment opportunities, but the social
fabric and the cultural identity of the Island. Puerto Rican migration to the mainland became a
need.
In specific, this course aims at understanding the transformation (and de-formation) of
politics in the Island as a consequence of: a) changing metropolis, from Spain to U.S., and b) as a
consequence of the rise and crisis of capitalism. For example, we will pose the questions: a)
What was the political landscape of the Island during the depression of 1930s and what patterns
of migration were triggered? b) What was the political landscape of the Island after WWII and
what patterns of migration were triggered?, and c) What were the migratory effects of the
economic policies of the Administration of the Partido Popular Democratic (Popular Democratic
Party) who was in power for 4 terms?
Students will examine political views of Puerto Rican intellectuals and authors who
voiced opposition to the US-PR economic relationship; students will examine the views of
scholars who documented and voiced opposition to the social conditions Puerto Rican migrants
faced in the mainland, i.e., discrimination, racism, and poverty. Again, we will also use Puerto
Rican literature to re-assert opposition but also to track the development of Puerto Rican cultural
identities.
This course also aims at understanding what happens to Puerto Rican migrants once they
arrive to the mainland. We will use demographic data to describe statistically the condition of
Puerto Ricans in the mainland. However, we will spend more time exploring the concepts of
cultural identity and nation. We will depart from two premises: a) the Puerto Rican people are a
“nation” without a “state” , and b) after a century of migration, Puerto Ricans in the mainland
and Puerto Ricans in the Island have acquired distinct cultural identities. These differences are
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constantly negotiated and resolved among Puerto Ricans because of the strong family ties they
have in both “nations”, mainland and Island.
Finally, we will attempt to answer a critical question: what philosophy of education is
more appropriate for Puerto Rican students in the mainland? We will engage this discussion
departing from three basic premises: a) historically, Puerto Rican migrants re-locate from nonurban areas to mainland urban areas, and b) Puerto Ricans are a trans-national-bilingual people,
and c) schooling in the Island (and more likely in the mainland) has neglected in its social studies
curriculum a critical analysis of the history of the Puerto Rican people.
The course will draw information from several books, articles, guest speakers and online
resources. The book of Bernabe and Ayala, Puerto Rico in the American Century (2007) will
provide the historical analysis of the Spanish-American War, the Jones Act (1917), Operation
Bootstrap in Puerto Rico, the creation of a Commonwealth (Estado Libre Asociado) in 1952, and
the histories of anti-colonial activism in the Island, New York and Chicago. The discourse on
cultural identity and nation will be based on the arguments presented by Jorge Duany, Puerto
Ricans, A Nation on the Move (2008). The course will be complemented by short presentations
done by guests/experts. These guests will speak on the topics of: Puerto Rican activism in
Chicago, National Bilingual Education, Critical Pedagogy Education, Puerto Rican Nationalism
and the Puerto Rican Feminist movement. There professor will take the class to Chicago’s
Puerto Rican enclave on Pedro Albizu Campos Boulevard (field trip). Other visual educational
resources will come from Internet sites, i.e., Crisis at the University of Puerto Rico 2010,
History of the Sugar Cane Industry and a brief biography of Luisa Capetillo (all from YouTube).
II. Course Objectives: Skills and Knowledge Students Will Acquire
After completing the course, students should be equipped to:
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Critically analyze the history of Puerto Rico within the history of U.S. economic and military
expansionism in the 20th century;
Articulate models that explain the evolution of the concept of the Puerto Rican nation and its cultural
identity in the Island as well as in the mainland urban areas;
Demonstrate knowledge of how the Puerto Rican migration to the mainland occurred and
subsequently evolved in communities in the United States as a result of its special political, economic
and cultural relationship with the empire;
Demonstrate knowledge of the immigration patterns to the US, the contexts of their reception, and
their impact on social, economic, and racial stratification;
nalyze critically the historical and social construction of “race”, ”nation”, “ethnicity,” and “white
privilege”;
Articulate the forms and processes in which educational inequality is reproduced in American society
and their relations to systematic inequalities between dominant and marginalized groups, now and in
the past;
Participate constructively in social and political debates on race and ethnic relations, multicultural
issues, and immigrant acculturation in America and beyond.
Access and use U.S. census materials to obtain appropriate demographic data and incorporate it in
analyzing social processes such as poverty, educational attainment, and residential segregation
Develop writing skills so that she/he can write a short sociological essay addressing one of the topics
discussed in class
III. ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING
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The grade that you earn in this course is based on a number of factors including, but not limited
to, class attendance, application/synthesis of knowledge to papers and/or class discussions. The
grading criteria are as follows:
Response Papers:
The class will be divided into small groups (depending on the total number of students in a
course) for response papers. Each member of one group will be responsible for completing a
response paper based on the weekly readings. For example, each student belonging to Group #1
would complete a response paper for the first week. Each member belonging to Group #2 would
follow the second week, etc. Each response paper is to be at least 2 pages long. Each student will
make a copy of their response papers for their classmates. These papers are then to be read and
discussed in class. Response papers will be worth 15 points. Each group will complete
approximately two response papers during the semester. A late response paper will be assessed a
one letter grade penalty
Written Assignments: A short paper will be required of each student. The first paper (6-8
pages in length) is based on providing a brief summary of the Perez book, delineating the central
theme/thesis and your understanding of The Near Northwest Side Story: Migration,
Displacement, & Puerto Rican Families. The second paper should be 8-10 pages in length .
Students are allowed and encouraged to collaborate in producing written assignments but
additional length requirements will apply.
Exams:
There will two exams in this class—a mid-term and a final. However, these exams are not what
are usually known as “comprehensive exams.” Both exams will be of a take-home nature and
will cover material covered in class sessions leading up to the date of the exam. Each student will
be given one week to complete the exam.
Participation and Attendance:
Each student is expected to regularly participate in class discussions and evidence knowledge of
the readings by making pertinent contributions. All students are expected to have done all the
assigned readings for each class. Regarding attendance, I know that we all have busy lives, as we
have to balance family, work, and school. But unless you have an emergency, I expect you to be
present for all class meetings. An attendance sheet will be passed out at ever class meeting. It is
your responsibility to sign-up this sheet, even if you come-in late. A series of “write-in class”
essays will be completed during class period and will form the basis for your attendance score.
CRITERIA FOR ASSIGNMENT OF LETTER GRADES (Total: 100 Points)Undergraduate
Midterm Exam:
30 points
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Final Exam
30 points
Papers (Book Review)
15 points
Response Papers:
15 points
Attendance and Participation
10 points
100 points
Using UW-Milwaukee Desire2Learn (D2L) course web sites
Materials for this course are available on a Desire2Learn (D2L) course web site. You may see
these materials there anytime you wish, using a standard web browser.
Recommended browsers: For a PC-compatible computer, use either Internet Explorer 7 or
Firefox. For Apple (Mac) computers, it is best to use Safari or Firefox. Be sure your browser
also has “Sun Java Runtime Environment” (Java-scripting) enabled for a recent version of Java.
(If you have any questions about these requirements, contact the UWM Help Desk, as described
at the bottom of this page.)
In order to find and browse the D2L course web site:
1. Open your web browser and go to the UWM home page: http://www.uwm.edu (OR go
directly to the D2L login page at http://D2L.uwm.edu and skip to #3 below).
2. From the UWM home page, click on the dropdown menu, and select D2L Course Access.
3. On the Desire2Learn Welcome screen, you will see a location to enter your Username
and Password.
4. Type in your ePanther Username (your ePanther campus email, but without the
“@uwm.edu”). Hit the [Tab] key on your keyboard, or use the mouse to click in the box
next to Password.
5. Type in your ePanther Password. Then hit [Login].
6. On the MyHome screen, find the area called My UW-Milwaukee Courses.
Click on [Search] with the textbox empty, to see all the “Active” courses you are enrolled
in. (Students are not able to see course sites until the Instructor has designated them as
“Active.”)
Alternatively, you can type a search string (for instance, “psych 101” but without the
quotes) and click on [Search]. If you’re enrolled in an active D2L site with that search
string, it will be displayed for you.
In the search results list, click twice on the word Semester at the top of the column to
organize your courses by semester, displaying the current semester first.
7. If you have any difficulty getting into the course web site, please close down your web
browser completely and open it up again. Then try logging on again, using the
instructions above. If you do not know your ePanther username or password, please get
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help as indicated below.
8. When you are finished looking around your D2L course sites, always click on [Logout].
This is especially important if you are in a computer lab. Otherwise, the next person who
uses the machine will be using your D2L account!
What to do if you have problems with Desire2Learn (D2L)
If you have problems with your login (e.g., you forgot your password, or if you just can’t get on)
or if you run into any other difficulties with D2L, help is available from the UWM Help Desk.
You may do one of the following:
Send an email to help@uwm.edu
Call the UWM Help Desk at 414.229.4040 if you are in Metro Milwaukee (or just dial
4040 on a UWM campus phone).
Go to Bolton 225 (this lab is not open all day or on weekends – call 414.229.4040 for
specific hours)
If you are calling from outside the 414 or 262 area codes, but from within the USA, you
may call the UWM Help Desk at 1.877.381.3459.
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Required Textbooks:
Ayala, Cesar J. and Rafael Bernabe. Puerto Rico in the American Century: A History Since
1898. Edition: 2007. Publisher: University of North Carolina. Available at Panther
Bookstore)
Duany, Jorge. The Puerto Rican Nation on the Move. Edition 2002. ISBN 0-8078-5372-0
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Perez, Gina M. The Near Northwest Side Story: Migration, Displacement, & Puerto Rican
Families. Edition: 2004. ISBN: 0-520-23367-0 Publisher: Univ. of California Press
(Available at Panther Bookstore)
Other Readings
Ferguson, Niall. Collossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire. Edition: 2004. ISBN 014-30.3479. Publisher: Penguin Books (pp 1-104)
Frederickson, Jean. Reclaiming Our Voices: Bilingual Education Critical Pedagogy & Praxis.
Edition 1995. ISBN 94-80131. Publisher: California Association for Bilingual Education
Acosta-Belén, Edna, and Carlos E. Santiago. Puerto Ricans in the United States: A
Contemporary Portrait. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 2006. (Available at Panther
Bookstore)
Centro Journal Volume 12, Number 1, Spring 2010 (Available at the UWM Bookstore only)
Major Course Units/Themes
Unit 1: Basic Historical events leading to the incorporation of Puerto Rico as a U.S. territory.
Weeks IV and V of January 2013.
Key Questions: Why Puerto Rico acquired value for the expanding U.S. empire?
How was a Puerto Rican identity forged under the imperial control of Spain and the United
States? How were agrarian and urban elites conceptualizing an ideal Puerto Rican culture and
what kinds of political ideologies they favored? How do we apply theories of colonialism and
neocolonialism to the U.S.-Puerto Rico situation?
Readings:
Ferguson, Niall (2004) Collossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire (pp 33-41)
Ayala, César, and Rafael Bernabe (2007). Puerto Rico in the American Century: A History
Since 1898 (Chapters 1-3).
Duany, Jorge (2002). The Puerto Rican Nation on the Move (Chapter 2 and 3).
Unit 2: Disillusion politics and global recession. Weeks I and II of February 2013
Key questions: Twenty years after the invasion, what is Puerto Rico? A colony or an
incorporated territory? What role played the Island in US militarization of the seas?
What federal legislations (“Acts”) and other acts triggered anti-American (oppositional) forces in
the Island? How these forces were institutionalized?
Readings:
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Ferguson, Niall (2004) Collossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire (pp 41-60)
Ayala, César, and Rafael Bernabe (2007). Puerto Rico in the American Century: A History
Since 1898 (Chapters 4-6).
Duany, Jorge (2002). The Puerto Rican Nation on the Move (Chapter 4).
Unit 3: A turning point in the history of the Island: from agricultural to industrial; internal
political struggles and the birth of the Commonwealth. Cultural identity issues. Weeks III and
IV of February 2013
Key Questions: What was the role of the Roosevelt’ administration enabling these paradigm
shifts? What was the role of the 4-terms governor Luis Munoz Marin and his party (Partido
Popular Democratico) in the engineering of the Island’s economic transformation? What
oppositional forces emerged in the Island and in the mainland? How the opposition framed the
struggle? In the midst of all these changes, how scholars and politicians attempted to deal with
the issue of identity and culture?
Readings
Ayala, César, and Rafael Bernabe (2007). Puerto Rico in the American Century: A History
Since 1898 (Chapters 7-8).
Duany, Jorge (2002). The Puerto Rican Nation on the Move (Chapter 5).
Unit 4: Migration as seen from different perspectives. Causes and antecedents of a Puerto Rican
Diaspora. Weeks I and Week II of March 2013.
Key Questions: What were the roles of the Jones Act and American multinationals in
encouraging the first migration waves? How do we apply different theories of migration to
different periods or waves of migrants? What specific government actors and actions combined
to boost the exodus to the United States? What mechanisms the Puerto Rican diaspora created to
adapt, survive and to recreate its culture in the mainland?
 We will depart our discussion understanding that the Puerto Rican government
engineered diaspora: Operation Bootstrap.
 The Puerto Rican migration is as circular.
 Migration occurs in waves or cohorts with specific motivation, demographic and
social composition.
 The Puerto Rican diaspora, particularly New York, left a permanent “foot print”.
Required Readings:
Ayala, César, and Rafael Bernabe (2007). Puerto Rico in the American Century: A History
Since 1898, “Transformation and Relocation: Puerto Rico’s Operation Bootstrap
(Chapter 9 and pp 303-308)
Duany, Jorge (2002). The Puerto Rican Nation on the Move (Chapters 8 and 9)
Acosta-Belen and Santiago, “Migrations Before World War II” and “Postwar Migration
Patterns” (chapters 3-4)- From Puerto Ricans in the United States: A Contemporary
Portrait
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MID TERM PROJECT IS DUE ON MARCH 12, 2013
Unit 5: Living on the Margins: Poverty and Pathways to the Middle Class. Week IV of March
and Week I of April 2013
Key Questions: How do we define poverty? What are the main causes of poverty? What is the
impact of structural factors on the creation and maintenance of poverty? What is concentrated
poverty and how does it impact barrio residents? The geographic and skills mismatch
hypotheses: explaining employment declines amongst Puerto Rican youths. How do working
class families find pathways to middle class status?
Required Readings:
Pérez, Gina M. (2004). The Near Northwest Side Story: Migration, Displacement, & Puerto
Rican Families. Berkeley: University of California Press.Black,
Timothy (2009). When a Heart Turns Rock Solid: The lives of three Puerto Rican Brothers
on and off the streets (chapters 5-7: “The Block”; “Leaving the Streets”; and
“Transitions”)
Unit 6: Educational Challenges for Puerto Rican students in the mainland and solutions. Week II
of April 2013.
Key Questions: What research says about the academic achievement of Puerto Ricans in the
US? Which educational models or pedagogies produce the best results for Puerto Rican students,
according research? What is Bilingual Education? What is Critical Pedagogy? Which pedagogy
shall be pursued for the Puerto Rican student in the mainland, knowing that their country
experienced a tumultuous colonial experience.
Required Readings:
Frederickson, Jean (1995). Reclaiming Our Voices: Bilingual Education Critical Pedagogy &
Praxis. (pp 26-42)
Baez, Antonio (2005). History of Bilingual Education in the United States. Doctoral
Dissertation, Department of Educational Policies and Community Studies,
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Unit 7. The link between community and schooling: Puerto Rican experiences with U.S. schools.
Week III of April 2013
Key Questions: What is the connection between the political situation in Puerto Rico and the
educational experiences of Puerto Rican students in the United States? How do we account for
the low academic achievement of Latino students? What is social capital and how does it impact
school performance? How do we explain high dropout rates amongst Latino students? How are
the problems faced by immigrant students similar and /or different than those faced by U.S. born
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students? What are the effects of high school mobility (e.g. circular/return migration) and the
education of Puerto Ricans? What is care, as postulated by Valenzuela and Nieto? What are the
implications for care in classrooms? What is the meaning of the concept “school as sanctuary”
and what are its potential pedagogical values?
Required Readings:
Ayala, César, and Rafael Bernabe (2007). Puerto Rico in the American Century: A History
Since 1898, “Neoliberalism in El Barrio and Beyond”, pp 303-308)
Frederickson, Jean (1995). Reclaiming Our Voices: Bilingual Education Critical Pedagogy &
Praxis. (pp 42-52)
René Antrop- Schools as Radical Sanctuaries: Decolonizing Urban Education through the
Eyes of Youth of Color (chapters 2-4: “The Sociohistorical/Political and
Curricular Context of the Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School (PACHS)”;
“Theorizing the Schools as Radical Sanctuaries Concept: The Voices of Puerto
Rican/Latino and African American Youth and their Teachers”; and “Toward a
Theory of Critical Caring] in Urban Schools: Constructing Instrumental
Student-Teacher Relationships of Solidarity”
Unit 8. New Destinations: The “Puerto Ricanization” of Florida. Week IV of April
Key Questions: What explains the dispersion of Puerto Ricans away from its old destinations in
the U.S. northeast and midwest? Why do we say that Puerto Ricans are experiencing a
bifurcation, with some moving to relatively poor cities in the U.S. northeast and others moving to
sunbelt states? What are the main historical, social, and economic factors behind the formation of
Puerto Rican settlements in Central Florida? How do Puerto Ricans moving to Central Florida
imagine themselves as an ethnic group/nation, that is, make “puertorriqueñidad”?
Required Readings:
Jorge Duany and Patricia Silver (2010), “The “Puerto Ricanization” of Florida: Historical
Background and Current Status.” Centro Journal, Vol. XXII, No. 1, pp. 4-31.
Patricia Silver (2010), “Culture is More than Bingo and Salsa: Making Puertorriqueñidad
in Central Florida.” Centro Journal, Vol. XXII, No. 1, pp. 56-83.
Unit 9. Fighting for Social Justice: Activists and Artists Leave their Mark. Week I of May 2013
Key Questions: How did community organizers and activists fought back against the social
injustices in U.S. society? Who were the Young Lords and what were they fighting for? What
was the role of the Spanish press in articulating an understanding of the major social and political
issues facing the Puerto Rican community? The work of writers and performing artists in
defining and reaffirming a cultural identity in the Diaspora.
Required Readings:
Ayala, César, and Rafael Bernabe (2007). Puerto Rico in the American Century: A History
Since 1898, “New Activism in New York and Beyond”, pp 237-245:
Acosta-Belén, Edna, and Carlos E. Santiago. Puerto Ricans in the United States: A
Contemporary Portrait, Chapters 6-7 (“Social and Civil Rights Struggles”; and
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“Voices and Images of the Diaspora”)
NOTE: The second exam is Week II of May 2013!