Elsa M. Calderón
Note: materials marked with an* indicate student materials.
* Alvarez, Julia.
How the Garc’a Girls Lost their Accent.
New York: Plume, 1992.
Recommended material for this unit. A delightful book that portrays a Dominican’s struggle with issues of immigration, assimilation,and nostalgia for the homeland. Available in Spanish as well as English.
Carrasquillo, Héctor and Virginia Sánchez-Korrol. Migration, Community, and Culture: The United States-Puerto Rican Experience, article in
Origins and Destinies:
Immigration Race, and Ethnicity in America,
pp. 98-109, New York: Wadsworth Publishing, 1996.
A brief overview of the Puerto Rican migration experience.
Chavez, Leo.
Shadowed Lives: Undocumented Immigrants in American Society
. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1992.
Recommended reading on issues of undocumented Mexican-Americans, but applicable to other immigrants as well.
*Estefan, Gloria. “Mi Tierra”, musical c.d., New York: Sony Music Entertainment, Inc., 1993.
Recommended material for this unit. Gloria Estefan is known to many students and her music has been well-received by my students in past years. The lyrics are in Spanish with an English translation provided.
Falcón, Luis. “Migration and Development: The Case of Puerto Rico.” Washington: Commission for the Study of International Migration and Cooperative Economic Development, 1990.
Insightful and thorough analysis of the development of Puerto Rican economy and the history of Puerto Rican migration, eschewing the push-pull theories and stressing the global economy. Includes many graphs and tables and excellent bibliography.
Flores, Juan and John Atinasi and Pedro Pedraza, Jr. “La Carreta Made a U-turn”: Puerto Rican Language and Culture in the United States, published in Daedalus, Spring, 1981, pp. 193-217.
Discussion of acculturation and assimilation; multiple references to the original book,
La Carreta
, by René Marqués, and, more significantly, to the poems of Tato Laviera who penned the phrase: la carreta made a u-turn.
Glasser, Ruth.
“ ‘Aqué Me Quedo’ Puerto Ricans in Connecticut,”
Unpublished manuscript, 1992.
Highly recommended reading for teachers unfamiliar with facts about Puerto Ricans in Connecticut; should be studied with the video,
Puerto Rican Passages.
González, David. “Dominican Immigration Alters Hispanic New York.” New York Times, September 1, 1992, pg. 1.
Brief article about the impact of Dominicans in New York.
Grasmuck, Sherri and Patricia Pessar.
Between Two Islands: Dominican International Migration.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.
Two giants in the field of Dominican immigration; required reading for teachers.
Grenier, Guillermo and Lisandro Pérez. “Miami Spice: The Ethnic Cauldron Simmers” article in
Origins and Destinies: Immigration, Race, and Ethnicity in America,
pp. 360-372, New York: Wadsworth Publishing, 1996.
Another excellent article from the definitive book on immigration, this time about the Cubans in Miami.
* Guerra, Juan Luis. “Areito”, musical c.d., Miami: Karen Publishing Company, 1992.
———. “Ojalá que llueva café”, musical c.d., Miami: Karen Publishing Company, 1995.
Recommended materials for this unit. Juan Luis Guerra is the epitome of the merengue singer and bachatero as well as an articulate voice for the Dominican immigration experience.
Hirschman, Albert.
Exit Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Films
,
Organizations, and States
. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1970.
*Laviera, Tato.
America.
Houston: Arte Público Press, 1981.
———.
la carreta made a U-turn.
Houston: Arte Público Press, 1992.
———.
Mainstream Ethics
(ética corriente). Houston: Arte Público Press, 1988.
Recommended materials for this unit; Tato Laviera deftly articulates the salient issues for the Puerto Ricans in the United States.
Larsen, Ronald J.
The Puerto Ricans in America.
Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Company, 1973.
Somewhat out-of-date but includes a brief history of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican immigration, which may be useful for teachers who want a concise overview. Lists famous Puerto Ricans in government, business, literature and the arts, sports, and entertainment.
Maldonado-Denis, Manuel.
Puerto Rico: A Socio-Historic Interpretation.
New York: Vintage Press, 1972.
A seminal book for teachers looking for background material on Puerto Rico.
Morales, Julio.
Puerto Rican Poverty and Migration: We Just Had to try Elsewhere.
New York: Praeger Publishers, 1 986.
A thoughtful analysis of the political, economic, and social forces that are responsible for Puerto Rican poverty in Puerto Rico and in the United States.
Myerson, Allen R. “Dominicans Thrive Where Big Chains Won’t Go,” The New York Times, January 7, 1992, pp. C1, C3.
A brief article about the success of Dominican entrepreneurs.
*Nú–ez, Lucia.
Why do People Move? Migration from Latin America
. Stanford: Stanford Program on International And Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE), 1993. An impressive curriculum unit for History and Social Studies, grades 6-10; includes classroom activities based on primary sources and profiles such countries as Mexico, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Cuba. Includes an audiocassette tape of Juan Luis Guerra’s song:
Visa para un sue–o.
Olivares, Julián.
Cuentos Hispanos de los Estados Unidos
. Houston: Arte Público Press, 1993.
Recommended materials for the classroom, to supplement the current unit.
Pacini-Hernández, Deborah.
Bachata: A Social History of Dominican Republic Popular
Music.
Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1995.
Explains the
bachata
phenomenon in the Dominican Republic; more than a
merengue
and inspired by
merengue
music.
Pedraza, Silvia and Rubén Rumbaut.
Origins and Destinies: Immigration, Race, and Ethnicity in America
. New York: Wadsworth Publishing, 1996
A must-read for all teachers using this unit.
Pessar, Patricia.
A Visa For a Dream: Dominicans in the United States
. Needham Heights: Allyn and Bacon, 1995.
The definitive book about Dominican migration.
Portes, Alejandro and Robert Bach.
Latin Journey: Cuban and Mexican Immigrants in the United States.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986.
Another excellent book, especially insightful on the Cuban issues.
Rodriguez, Clara. “Economic Factors Affecting Puerto Ricans in New York,” in
Labor
Migration under Capitalism.
New York: Monthly Review Press, 1979.
An analysis of labor issues faced by Puerto Ricans.
*Samaniego, Fabián A. and Francisco X. Alarcón.
¡Dime! Pasaporte al Mundo 21.
Lexington: D. C. Heath and Company, 1995.
Recommended reading for this unit, especially Chapter 1:
Los Hispanos en Estados Unidos:crisol de sue–os,
and Chapter 4:
Cuba, La República Dominicana y Puerto Rico: en el ojo del huracán.
This textbook is relied on heavily in this unit. It is referred to as
Pasaporte.
The text has accompanying workbooks and a video.
*Santiago, Esmeralda.
When I was Puerto Rican
. New York: Vintage Books, 1993. Recommended reading for this unit; this book describes Esmeralda’s struggles both in Puerto Rico and in the United States. A plus are the Spanish proverbs or “refranes” that introduce each chapter. Available in Spanish for the classroom:
Cuando era puertorrique–a
.
Santiago, Roberto. Boricuas:
An Anthology of Influential Puerto Rican Writings
. New York: Ballantine Books, 1995
.
Recommended for teachers unfamiliar with Puerto Rican authors.
Shorris, Earl.
Latinos
. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1992.
A deft handling of issues such as racism and assimilation.
Suro, Robert. “Poverty Threatens the community Dominicans built in New York.” Washington Post. June 17, 1995, p. A6.
A brief article about obstacles Dominicans face in their new country.
Torres-Saillant, Silvio. “Dominicans and the U. S. Go Way, Way Back.” New York Newsday. June 28, 1993, p. 64.
An expert in the field of Dominican migration traces the trajectory of Dominican-United States relations.
