Latin American Caribbean and Us Latino Studies

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MILWAUKEE

LATIN AMERICAN CARIBBEAN AND US LATINO STUDIES

Puerto Rican History and Migration

LACS/LATINO 200

PROFESSOR JOSE M ACEVEDO

SPRING 2013

Contact Information: Dr. Acevedo; Tel.-(414) 837-8116; Office Hours: By appointment at TBA

Class Location and Time: ______—5:00-7:40; Bolton ______

I. Course Description

This course aims at achieving an understanding of the macro-level political, socio-economic and historical factors affecting Puerto Rican migration to the United States (mainland) since 1898 (U.S. invasion) to the late 70s. We will approach the issues of migration departing from the understanding that U.S. interventions, i.e., military and political, are behind the massive movement of Puerto Ricans to the mainland The United States also arbitrated the Puerto Rican economy. We also depart from the assumption that the landscape of the Puerto Rican economy was shaped and re-shaped due to global capitalism (through the last century) but strictly facilitated by U.S. capital. In a very short amount of time, Puerto Rico (the Island) experienced an economic transformation that affected not only employment opportunities, but the social fabric and the cultural identity of the Island. Puerto Rican migration to the mainland became a need.

In specific, this course aims at understanding the transformation (and de-formation) of politics in the Island as a consequence of: a) changing metropolis, from Spain to U.S., and b) as a consequence of the rise and crisis of capitalism. For example, we will pose the questions: a) What was the political landscape of the Island during the depression of 1930s and what patterns of migration were triggered? b) What was the political landscape of the Island after WWII and what patterns of migration were triggered?, and c) What were the migratory effects of the economic policies of the Administration of the Partido Popular Democratic (Popular Democratic Party) who was in power for 4 terms?

Students will examine political views of Puerto Rican intellectuals and authors who voiced opposition to the US-PR economic relationship; students will examine the views of scholars who documented and voiced opposition to the social conditions Puerto Rican migrants faced in the mainland, i.e., discrimination, racism, and poverty. Again, we will also use Puerto Rican literature to re-assert opposition but also to track the development of Puerto Rican cultural identities.

This course also aims at understanding what happens to Puerto Rican migrants once they arrive to the mainland. We will use demographic data to describe statistically the condition of Puerto Ricans in the mainland. However, we will spend more time exploring the concepts of cultural identity and nation. We will depart from two premises: a) the Puerto Rican people are a “nation” without a “state” , and b) after a century of migration, Puerto Ricans in the mainland and Puerto Ricans in the Island have acquired distinct cultural identities. These differences are constantly negotiated and resolved among Puerto Ricans because of the strong family ties they have in both “nations”, mainland and Island.

Finally, we will attempt to answer a critical question: what philosophy of education is more appropriate for Puerto Rican students in the mainland? We will engage this discussion departing from three basic premises: a) historically, Puerto Rican migrants re-locate from non-urban areas to mainland urban areas, and b) Puerto Ricans are a trans-national-bilingual people, and c) schooling in the Island (and more likely in the mainland) has neglected in its social studies curriculum a critical analysis of the history of the Puerto Rican people.

The course will draw information from several books, articles, guest speakers and online resources. The book of Bernabe and Ayala, Puerto Rico in the American Century (2007) will provide the historical analysis of the Spanish-American War, the Jones Act (1917), Operation Bootstrap in Puerto Rico, the creation of a Commonwealth (Estado Libre Asociado) in 1952, and the histories of anti-colonial activism in the Island, New York and Chicago. The discourse on cultural identity and nation will be based on the arguments presented by Jorge Duany, Puerto Ricans, A Nation on the Move (2008). The course will be complemented by short presentations done byguests/experts. These guests will speak on the topics of: Puerto Rican activism in Chicago, National Bilingual Education, Critical Pedagogy Education, Puerto Rican Nationalism and the Puerto Rican Feminist movement. There professor will take the class to Chicago’s Puerto Rican enclave on Pedro Albizu Campos Boulevard (field trip). Other visual educational resources will come from Internet sites, i.e., Crisis at the University of Puerto Rico 2010, History of the Sugar Cane Industry and a brief biography of Luisa Capetillo (all from YouTube).

II. Course Objectives: Skills and Knowledge Students Will Acquire

After completing the course, students should be equipped to:

Critically analyze the history of Puerto Rico within the history of U.S. economic and military expansionism in the 20th century;

Articulate models that explain the evolution of the concept of the Puerto Rican nation and its cultural identity in the Island as well as in the mainland urban areas;

Demonstrate knowledge of how the Puerto Rican migration to the mainland occurred and subsequently evolved in communities in the United States as a result of its special political, economic and cultural relationship with the empire;

Demonstrate knowledge of the immigration patterns to the US, the contexts of their reception, and their impact on social, economic, and racial stratification;

nalyze critically the historical and social construction of “race”, ”nation”, “ethnicity,” and “white privilege”;

Articulate the forms and processes in which educational inequality is reproduced in American society and their relations to systematic inequalities between dominant and marginalized groups, now and in the past;

Participate constructively in social and political debates on race and ethnic relations, multicultural issues, and immigrant acculturation in America and beyond.

Access and use U.S. census materials to obtain appropriate demographic data and incorporate it in analyzing social processes such as poverty, educational attainment, and residential segregation

Develop writing skills so that she/he can write a short sociological essay addressing one of the topics discussed in class

III. ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING

The grade that you earn in this course is based on a number of factors including, but not limited to, class attendance, application/synthesis of knowledge to papers and/or class discussions. The grading criteria are as follows:

Response Papers:

The class will be divided into small groups (depending on the total number of students in a course) for response papers. Each member of one group will be responsible for completing a response paper based on the weekly readings. For example, each student belonging to Group #1 would complete a response paper for the first week. Each member belonging to Group #2 would follow the second week, etc. Each response paper is to be at least 2 pages long. Each student will make a copy of their response papers for their classmates. These papers are then to be read and discussed in class. Response papers will be worth 15 points. Each group will complete approximately two response papers during the semester. A late response paper will be assessed a one letter grade penalty

Written Assignments: A short paper will be required of each student. The first paper (6-8 pages in length) is based on providing a brief summary of the Perez book, delineating the central theme/thesis and your understanding of The Near Northwest Side Story: Migration, Displacement, & Puerto Rican Families. The second paper should be 8-10 pages in length . Students are allowed and encouraged to collaborate in producing written assignments but additional length requirements will apply.

Exams:

There will two exams in this class—a mid-term and a final. However, these exams are not what are usually known as “comprehensive exams.” Both exams will be of a take-home nature and will cover material covered in class sessions leading up to the date of the exam. Each student will be given one week to complete the exam.

Participation and Attendance:

Each student is expected to regularly participate in class discussions and evidence knowledge of the readings by making pertinent contributions. All students are expected to have done all the assigned readings for each class. Regarding attendance, I know that we all have busy lives, as we have to balance family, work, and school. But unless you have an emergency, I expect you to be present for all class meetings. An attendance sheet will be passed out at ever class meeting. It is your responsibility to sign-up this sheet, even if you come-in late. A series of “write-in class” essays will be completed during class period and will form the basis for your attendance score.

CRITERIA FOR ASSIGNMENT OF LETTER GRADES (Total: 100 Points)-Undergraduate

Midterm Exam: 30 points

Final Exam 30 points

Papers(Book Review)15 points

Response Papers: 15 points

Attendance and Participation 10 points

100 points

Using UW-Milwaukee Desire2Learn (D2L) course web sites

Materials for this course are available on a Desire2Learn (D2L) course web site. You may see these materials there anytime you wish, using a standard web browser.

Recommended browsers: For a PC-compatible computer, use either Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox. For Apple (Mac) computers, it is best to use Safari or Firefox. Be sure your browser also has “Sun Java Runtime Environment” (Java-scripting) enabled for a recent version of Java. (If you have any questions about these requirements, contact the UWM Help Desk, as described at the bottom of this page.)

In order to find and browse the D2L course web site:

1.Open your web browser and go to the UWM home page: (OR go directly to the D2L login page at and skip to #3 below).

2.From the UWM home page, click on the dropdown menu, and select D2L Course Access.

3.On the Desire2Learn Welcome screen, you will see a location to enter your Username and Password.

4.Type in your ePanther Username (your ePanther campus email, but without the “@uwm.edu”). Hit the [Tab] key on your keyboard, or use the mouse to click in the box next to Password.

5.Type in your ePanther Password. Then hit [Login].

6.On the MyHome screen, find the area called My UW-Milwaukee Courses.

Click on [Search] with the textbox empty, to see all the “Active” courses you are enrolled in. (Students are not able to see course sites until the Instructor has designated them as “Active.”)

Alternatively, you can type a search string (for instance, “psych 101” but without the quotes) and click on [Search]. If you’re enrolled in an active D2L site with that search string, it will be displayed for you.

In the search results list, click twice on the word Semester at the top of the column to organize your courses by semester, displaying the current semester first.

7.If you have any difficulty getting into the course web site, please close down your web browser completely and open it up again. Then try logging on again, using the instructions above. If you do not know your ePanther username or password, please get help as indicated below.

8.When you are finished looking around your D2L course sites, always click on [Logout]. This is especially important if you are in a computer lab. Otherwise, the next person who uses the machine will be using your D2L account!

What to do if you have problems with Desire2Learn (D2L)

If you have problems with your login (e.g., you forgot your password, or if you just can’t get on) or if you run into any other difficulties with D2L, help is available from the UWM Help Desk. You may do one of the following:

 Send an email to

 Call the UWM Help Desk at 414.229.4040 if you are in Metro Milwaukee (or just dial 4040 on a UWM campus phone).

 Go to Bolton 225 (this lab is not open all day or on weekends – call 414.229.4040 for specific hours)

 If you are calling from outside the 414 or 262 area codes, but from within the USA, you may call the UWM Help Desk at 1.877.381.3459.

Required Textbooks:

Ayala, Cesar J. and Rafael Bernabe. Puerto Rico in the American Century: A History Since 1898. Edition: 2007. Publisher: University of North Carolina. Available at Panther Bookstore)

Duany, Jorge. The Puerto Rican Nation on the Move. Edition 2002. ISBN 0-8078-5372-0

Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press

Perez, Gina M. The Near Northwest Side Story: Migration, Displacement, & Puerto Rican Families.Edition: 2004. ISBN: 0-520-23367-0 Publisher: Univ. of California Press (Available at Panther Bookstore)