Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Puerto Ricans As Contingent Citizens: Shifting Mandated Identities And Imperial Disjunctures, Pedro Caban
Puerto Ricans As Contingent Citizens: Shifting Mandated Identities And Imperial Disjunctures, Pedro Caban
Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies Faculty Scholarship
In 1917 the United States Congress imposed citizenship on the inhabitants of Puerto Rico. It was a contingent citizenship subject to legal redefi nition and tailored to Puerto Rico’s colonial status within the U.S. empire. Many scholars have argued that racism was determinative in the decision to consign Puerto Ricans a diminished citizenship. But it is necessary to point out that the U.S. had crafted an adaptive racial narrative that distinguished among racialized people under its sovereignty in terms of their capacities for self-government and ability to comprehend Anglo-Saxon political and legal institutions. Moreover, in addition to racism, strategic considerations …