Colonial Shame and its Effect on Puerto Rican Culture

Abstract

I explore how American influence affects Puerto Rican culture through colonial shame. My dissertation is informed by the following questions: (1) In what ways does Puerto Rican culture attempt to move away from colonial shame? (2) What underlying desires and fears are present in Puerto Rican cultural productions? (3) How does colonial shame create agency in the struggle to achieve cultural currency within the wider American society? (4) How does colonial shame affect transculturation between Puerto Rico and the United States? The second chapter of my dissertation explores Puerto Rican attempts at moving away their colonial shame to subvert it. This is accomplished through the promotion of alternate historical narratives which are not based in fact but function as the ethno-nation’s narrative of heroism and rebellion. I specifically analyze the autobiographical works of Jesús Colón and Esmeralda Santiago in terms of their use of food and bodily functions as catalysts for ethno-national defense. The third chapter of my dissertation examines how colonial shame influences and promotes ethno-national superiority through a rhetorical analysis of the curricular documents published by the Department of Education of Puerto Rico for the English and Spanish programs from 2000-2010. Both languages hold an official status on the island, yet there is a marked tendency for Puerto Ricans to resist bilingualism despite being Enrolled in English classes from K-12. I ultimately found that the seemingly neutral discourse used by both programs were in fact steeped with veiled ideological language and arguments that promote ethno-national superiority. The fourth chapter of my dissertation takes a close look at the Puerto Rican Syndrome as it appears in the independent film, An American in Puerto Rico. One of the effects of colonial shame on Puerto Rican cultural productions is that it gives agency to people who normally would not have a valid voice within a colonized society. An American in Puerto Rico explores the role of colonial shame within a colonized culture from the perspective of the colonizer. The Puerto Rican director and production team use the white American character, John, as a way to give agency to the plight of colonized subjects. The film also highlights the problem with naming a syndrome specifically “Puerto Rican.” Arguably, anyone who is confronted with the harsh reality of colonialism could suffer from a nervous breakdown regardless of whether they are the colonizer or the colonized. In chapter five, I examine how colonial shame influences the degree to which Puerto Ricans attempt to control, or at least move away from, the dominant colonial discourse by protesting the effects of the culture industry’s cycle of assumptions. The object of study for chapter five is the music genre of reggaetón. The genre of reggaetón had origins in Puerto Rico and enjoyed popularity within the island during its early “underground” years. However, despite the genre remaining relatively popular outside of Puerto Rico, it currently has a negative stigma on the island. I explain that one cause that explains the genre’s decline is the lack of popularity was the culture industry’s homogenization of the genre which promoted a negative view of Puerto Ricans in the public arena.