book chapter

English Only Jamás but Spanish Only Cuidado: Language and Nationalism in Contemporary Puerto Rico

Puerto Rican jam: rethinking colonialism and nationalism • Minneapolis • Published In 1997 • Pages: 257-285

By: Negrón-Muntaner, Frances.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document

This is a study of language nationalism in Puerto Rico after 1898 when the United States government, as a colonial power, took over control of the island following the Spanish-American war. Negron-Muntaner examines the controversy regarding the introduction of the English language into the curricula of the Puerto Rican school system, forcing bilingualism on the population, a condition favored by the majorities which tended to support the coexistence of both languages as the "ideal" state of affairs on the island, with Spanish being used as the undisputed vernacular. Attempts to acquire U. S. citizenship as well as statehood are also discussed in this article.

SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF

History

Acculturation and culture contact

Sociocultural trends

Speech

Education system

External relations

Cultural identity and pride

cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)

Puerto Ricans (Island)

HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document

2012

RegionThe area the document pertains to

Middle America and the Caribbean

Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region

Caribbean

Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs

book chapter

Evaluation

Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.

Ethnologist

Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.

4: Excellent Secondary Data

5: Excellent Primary Data

AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection

John Beierle; 2012

Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document

no date

Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to

1898-1997

Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)

Puerto Rico

NotesAdditional notes

Frances Negrón-Muntaner

Includes bibliographical references

LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number

97009569

LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings

Puerto Ricans