Curricular Resources > 2000 Volume I > Unit 5 (00.01.05) > Section 9

Women Writers in Latin America

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 00.01.05

Unit Guide

Understanding Ethnic Labels and Puerto Rican Identity

Diana Pe–a-Pérez

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Annotated Bibliography for Teachers

Algarin, Miguel and Miguel Pi–ero, (Eds.) Nuyorican Poetry: An Anthology of Puerto Rican Words and Feelings,William Morrow and Company, New York, 1975. A collection of poems that express Puerto Rican identity. Gimenez, Martha. “Latinos/Hispanics… What Next! Some reflections on the politics of identity in the U.S.” Department of Sociology University of Colorado, Boulder. The author explains why she does not want to be considered “Hispanic” and provides a little bit of the history of that term and others used in the Unites States. Jaffe, A.J., Cullen and Thomas d. Boswell. The Changing Demographic of Spanish Americans. Academic Press, New York, 1980. Keesing, Roger M., “Theories of Culture Revisited,” Canberra Anthropology, v. 13(2), 19990, 46-60. The author argues for a concept of culture that combines modern ways of life and those of small-scale communities. Luis, William Dance Between Two Cultures: Latino Caribbean Literature written in the United States, Vanderbilt University Press, 1997. It provides a critical analysis of literature written by Latino writers from the Caribbean including Puerto Ricans living in the United States. Oboler, Suzane, Ethnic Labels, Latino Lives University of Minnesota 1997. This book explores the history and current use the labels “Hispanic” and Latino and how they affect some people’s struggles for social participation in the U.S. Perl Lila, Puerto Rico: Island Between two Worlds, William Morrow and Company, New York, 1979. This book summarizes Puerto Rican history, economy and social problems following the United States occupation in 1898. Roberto Rogdriguez and Patrisia Gonzales, “The Label Trap,” Albuquerque Journal, August 4, 1994; and Taxonomy: More on the Label Trap. These essays discuss the different labels used to refer to people from Spanish-speaking countries. It also touches upon the uses of Mexicans versus Mexican Americans and Chicano terms in the Unites States. Santiago, Roberto (Ed.) Boricuas Influential Puerto Rican Writings: An Anthology, New York: One World 1995. Includes essays, poetry and chapters from some famous works that deal with the Puerto Rican issues. Smedley, Audrey. “Race and the Construction of Human Identity,” American Anthropologist, vol. 100(3), 1998. This paper briefly explores how race became part of our culture and argues that we must disconnect cultural features of identity from biological traits. Turner, Faythe, Ed., (1991). Puerto Rican Writers at Home in the USA. An anthology, One Hand Publishing, Seattle, Washington @SH:Annotated Student Readings “Ay Ay Ay for the Kinky Black Woman” by Julia de Burgos. (Boricuas Influential Puerto Rican Writings: An Anthology). This poem is about a woman’s Puerto Rican’s African roots. . “Black and Latino,” by Roberto Santiago. (Boricuas Influential Puerto Rican Writings: An Anthology). An essay on how a dark-skin Puerto Rican came to understand race in this country and how an incident helped him find an identity. “My name is Maria Cristina” (Herejes y Mificaciones, Dance Between Two Cultures). “For Lolita Lebron,” “From Fanon” and “Here” by Sandra Maria Esteves. (Puerto Rican Writers at Home in the USA. An Anthology). These poems reflect the ambivalence some Puerto Ricans experience when confronting their American/Puerto Rican cultures. “Child of the Americas” by Aurora Levins Morales and Rosario Morales (Puerto Rican Writers at Home in the U.S. An Anthology). This poem is abut about a woman being “born at the crossroads,” one with roots from three ethnic groups. “African Things,” by Victor Hernandez (Boricuas). This poem reveals information about Puerto Rico’s African history. “Arturo Alfonso Schomburg: Our Forgotten Scholar,” Castillo Jr., and Valerie Sandoval Mwalilino, EPIC/NECCA. This article describes the accomplishments of Arturo Schomburg and his efforts to afford blacks respect.

Endnotes

Microsoft Encarta. Online Encyclopedia 2000, HYPERLINK http://encarta.msn.com http://encarta.msn.com

Gimenez, Martha. (1998) “Latinos/Hispanic. What’s next! Some reflections on the politics of identity in the U.S.” Department of Sociology, University of Colorado at Boulder

Oboler, Suzane (195) Ethnic Labels, Latino Lives. Identity and the Politics of (Re)Presentation in the United States University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, pg. 25

I am using this term interchangeably with Spanish-speaking peoples as a writing style only.

Oboler, Ethnic Labels

Oboler, Ethnic Labels, pg. 9

Perl, Lila, (1979) Puerto Rico: Island Between Two Worlds, William Morrow and Company, New York

Pearl, ibd. Pg. 145.

Santiago, Roberto ed. (1995)Boricuas: Influential Puerto Rican Writings An Anthology, Ballantine Books, New York

Flores, “The Insular Vision: Pedreira and the Puerto Rican Misere,” Divided Borders.

Turner, Faythe, ed., (1991). Puerto Rican Writers at home in the USA. An anthology, One Hand Publishing, Seattle, Washington

Luis, William (1997). Dance Between Two Cultures: Latino Caribbean Literature Written in the United States. Vanderbilt University Press

Smedley, Audrey (1998). “Race and the Construction of Human Identity,” American Anthropologist. Vol 100 no. 3

Jaffe, A.J., Cullen and Thomas D. Boswell (1980) The Changing Demographic of Spanish Americans Academic Press, New York

Luis, Dance Between Two Cultures.

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