Us According to Them
Us According to Them
Stateside Portrayals of Puerto Ricans and Their Culture, 1898-2010
The acquisition of Puerto Rico as a colony in 1898 prompted the interest of many in the United States—the military, correspondents, investors, missionaries, politicians, scientists, and tourists. Wanting to know more about Puerto Rico, its inhabitants, and its potential utility, many of these curious but untrained observers visited the island and documented their experiences for the benefit of future visitors. Decades later, readers continue to revisit these writings and create new accounts that explore the “effects of American civilization” on Puerto Rican society.
In Us According to Them: Stateside Portrayals of Puerto Ricans and Their Culture, 1898-2010, Puerto Rican historian Ligia T. Domenech exposes the distorted mirror turned on Puerto Rico, one constructed through the eyes of foreigners. Each of the eighteen chapters focuses on a different aspect of mainland US descriptions of Puerto Rican culture—from gender, race, and class to music, religion, and food. Accurate or not, books on Puerto Rico have contained perceptions about Puerto Ricans and their world that continue to shape opinions held by US citizens dwelling stateside. This book explores the lasting impacts of these repeated stereotypes on the collective understandings of both the colonizer and the colonized.
Ligia T. Domenech is an independent history researcher and educator with a PhD in history from the Center for Advanced Studies of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. She is author of Imprisoned in the Caribbean: The 1942 German U-Boat Blockade and has contributed to such books as Island at War: Puerto Rico in the Crucible of the Second World War, the latter published by University Press of Mississippi.
Introduction
Chapter 1: “Oh, Dear Lord, Why Didst Thou Ever Inspire Me to Go to Puerto Rico to Teach?”: About the Selected American Authors
Chapter 2: “They Considered Them Conquered Animals”: On How Colonialism Permeates All
Chapter 3: “Living from Hand to Mouth”: On the Poverty of Puerto Ricans
Chapter 4: “Neither Aliens Nor Americans”: The Convoluted Politics of the Colony
Chapter 5: “We Think We Are Better Than Other People”: On the Onset of the Relationships Between Colonizers and Colonized
Chapter 6: “From the Yellow Pine of Castile to the Mahogany of Africa”: On the Racial Types and Social Classes
Chapter 7: “Song, Laughter and Mañana”: On the Myth of the Lazy Puerto Ricans
Chapter 8: “Lust Was Written in the Very Faces of the People”: On the Morality of Puerto Ricans
Chapter 9: “Known by Their Fruits”: On Violence, Illegality, and Policing
Chapter 10: “The Body Was There but Not the Soul”: On the Puerto Ricans’ Religious Practices
Chapter 11: “A Poor Specimen of Manhood”: On Matters of Health and Death
Chapter 12: “Satan Himself Would Dance If He Could Hear Them”: On Puerto Rican Entertainments
Chapter 13: “We Iss One Happy People”: On Puerto Ricans’ Values and How They See Life
Chapter 14: “People Who Will Always ‘Be There’”: On Puerto Ricans’ Relationships with Family, Friends, and Strangers
Chapter 15: “Those Indescribable Eyes”: Puerto Rican Women
Chapter 16: “Bright-Eyed Little Fellows”: Puerto Rican Children
Chapter 17: “They Want Rice and Beans First”: Food, Drinks, and Smokes
Chapter 18: “Dear Me! What a Busy, Noisy Place!”: On Commerce and Animal Treatment
“To Be Born in Porto Rico Is, for Me, a Privilege”: Conclusion
Appendix 1: General Nelson A. Miles Proclamation
Appendix 2: Bibliography of Analyzed American Authors
Appendix 3: American Authors’ Informative Table
Notes
Works Cited
Index
