The Culture And Culture Of Puerto Rican Culture

Like many Puerto Ricans before me, I have questioned my cultural identity. We claim to be a commonwealth, a free associated state, but we are neither free nor a state. This is where our dilemma lies. What are we if not a state? What are we if not free? We are stuck in the middle, we have become a paradox, a contradiction. Now the question here lies: what- or better yet- who are we?

One of the first things I noticed while attending the Puerto Rican Festival was the language differences (2017). Most people spoke Spanish, and Spanish seemed to be their preferred language over English. At the festival, it was difficult to communicate. People carried

Puerto Rico has variety of Spanish food that make you go there. Puerto Rico’s food is one of the best reasons to visit the island. It is diverse, rich, and flavorful with a combination of rice, beans, meat and fish fried. Puerto Rico cooking is somewhat similar to both Spanish and other Hispanic cuisines. It’s

The experience Puerto Rice has had in the few thousands has been rough to say. They have been under the control of two separate countries. Their native people practically extinct, and they still cannot again their own independence till this day like they had 5,000 years ago. To understand the history of Puerto Rico and how they became a part of the United States, you have to go back a few thousand years. There is not much ancient history surrounding present day Puerto Rico as there is with the ancient empires such as the Mayans, Aztecs, and the Incas. There are some scholars that suggest that a tribe of Ortoiroid people who came from South America arrived and inhabited the land, dating back to about 4,000 years ago. The more known history

I will bring awareness to the history and struggles of the Puerto Rican people. I will relate the struggles of not being recognized in society, being discriminated against, and not being able to vote unless living in the states despite the fact we are born United States citizens. These conditions are identical to what Zinn states happened to slaves in his book, “A People History of the United States.” (Chapter 6) I will also speak on the advancements Puerto Ricans have made today as compared to 40 years ago, and how it has influenced me today as a Puerto Rican women.

According to census research at Lehman College (1), during 1945 to the 1950’s more than half a million Puerto Rican natives migrated to several parts of the USA, originally from their own homeland, Puerto Rico. Several of the locations that Puerto Ricans migrated to include Chicago, New Jersey, Boston, Philadelphia, and New York City. One of the cities that experienced a large boom of Puerto Rican population was New York. This period was known as the “Great Migration” and had several factors that led to the mass migration. Some of these major events include the 1917 signing of the Jones-Shafroth Act by Woodrow Wilson, and the Great Depression. Afterwards, Puerto Ricans were permanent citizens of the US From these events. This still poses

The story of the Puerto Rican people is quite unique in the history of U.S. immigration, just as Puerto Rico dwell a distinctive and sometimes confusing position in the nation’s civic fabric. Puerto Rico has been ownership of the U.S. for more than a century, however it has never been a state. Puerto Ricans have been U.S. citizens since 1917, but even with that they still have no vote in Congress. Being citizens of the U.S. they can move throughout the fifty states without any problems just as any other American can do legally. This however, is considered inside migration, not immigration.

The Puerto Rican people have a rich history of culture and ethnicity. Despite the many migrations of the Puerto Ricans, an intense spirit of ethnicity and cultural pride has followed these people wherever they have gone, whether that be migrations from rural areas to industrialized cities or from the small island of Puerto Rico to the vast mainland of the United States. However, the struggles of these people have become obscured over the passing of generations. As evidenced by Shakira Ramos, generations of Puerto Ricans born and raised in the United States aren't always well informed of the rich history of their ancestors. Shakira admits

Puerto Rican cuisine includes a decently wide array of options including different animals, crops, beverages, and plants. There are no well-known inedible foods in Puerto Rico. The animals most commonly eaten in Puerto Rico include chicken, pork sausage, turkey, beef, pork chops, spare ribs, and marinated pork. The animals most common to Puerto Rico are chickens, cattle, pigs, horses, goats, sheep, mules, and asses (Magaly). Fish is also eaten, but in smaller quantities than other meats (Syracuse). Daily diets of Puerto Ricans usually include rice, beans, starchy vegetables, sofrito, and bacalao (Kittler, Sucher, Nelms

Cautionary old wive’s tales have long been an effective way to teach children morality and values without boring them. In Judith Ortiz Cofer’s “A Partial Remembrance of a Puerto Rican Childhood” (rpt. In Santi V. Buscemi and Charlotte Smith, 75 Readings Plus, 10th ed. [New York: McGraw Hill, 2013] 67-71) it is clear how a good storyteller such as Mama can capture the attention her audience. Cofer’s grandmother often tells these “cuentos” to her daughters and granddaughters over afternoon coffee. These stories are used as an indirect way for Mama to teach her family the values and lessons that she has learned throughout her life.

Although the policies of Americanization and degradation of Puerto Rican culture heritage improved by the United States in Puerto Rico during the early decades of the twentieth century, the utmost concern for the United States was the strategic location of the island for political and economic advantages, not of the people who inhabited it. Puerto Rico, though a poor colony, was a rich cultural spot in an area of dynamic cultural influence of the Caribbean. One aspect of the Puerto Rican culture that was greatly influenced by its location in the Caribbean and by its repossession by the United States is music. Music permeated the daily life of Puerto Ricans (Waxer, Oct. 29). Music was the

The fundamental issue is that the client whom was referred to by her family doctor for depression (the Puerto Rican woman), doesn’t have 100% control over the intake interview making the job of the social worker that much harder to make a proper analysis of the client.

Their primary meals consists of rice and red beans which represents the color of their flag. They also consume stewed meat, plantains, chicken, pork, beef, root vegetables and much more. Their restaurants and street vendors are known to serve food, that is superior and high quality. Like American society, the Dominican Republic people feasts on special occasions, such as Christmas or Easter. They serve roasted pig and boiled chestnuts.

One of the most striking observations I examined was the way in which culture was used to beautify and extol ethnic heritage during my first visit to downtown Holyoke. I witnessed culture functioning as an emblematic tool that was memorializing the Puerto Rican community through art murals, blaring salsa music [which dominated the air-resonance] and other manifestations that showcased Boricua ethos. Those same cultural cues remained during my second trip, but as I engaged more intimately with the residents and the commercial industries and governmental offices, these emblems revealed another meaningful purpose. These symbols of reconstructed nationalism were used to assert ownership over geographical space while challenging socioeconomic place. Similar to the Zabbaleen in Cairo whose social and economic position remains endangered, the Puerto Rican community in Holyoke is experiencing an immediate threat to their geographic space due to their socioeconomic place and threats of gentrification. Both cultures, which are distinctly unique and ethnically regionalized as a result, are thousands of miles apart spatially, but closely bounded due to the ability to use their culture as an instrument to combat the usage of socioeconomic place as an ideological weapon to regulate geographic space.

People often call Puerto Rico’s culture colorful. Puerto Rican art students often go to Institute of Puerto Rican Culture in the Dominican Convent in Old San Juan. Santos are considered the most impressive crafts of Puerto Rico. Santos have been produced since the 1500s and are carved religious figures. People who make these are called Santeros. They use clay, gold, stone, or cedar wood to carve the figures. Mundillos is are crafts made of bobbin lace-making. This kind of lace only exists in Puerto Rico and Spain. Torachon is the first lace that was made in PUerto rico. Artists have changed torchon into a delicate art.