article
"If God were black and from Loíza": managing identies in a Puerto Rican seaside town
Latin American perspectives • 33 (1) • Published In 2006 • Pages: 66-82
By: Hernández Hiraldo, Samiri, Ortega-Brena, Mariana.
Abstract
The municipality of Loiza, located on the northeast coast of Puerto Rico, is particularly noted for its majority black population, its strong African traditions, and its slow limited development. In the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries Loiza has attracted the attention of the media for its high crime rate and controversy surrounding the development of local tourism. According to the author the attempt of the people of Loiza to improve their social and economic conditions can be viewed in terms of the formation of identity involving a series of complex relationships between local, national, transnational, and religious factors, in combination with those based on skin color and ethnic background. In this study Hernandez Hiraldo examines the management of identity in daily interactions and how the role of identity can be used to improve Loiza's socioeconomic and religious conditions.
- HRAF PubDate
- 2012
- Region
- Middle America and the Caribbean
- Sub Region
- Caribbean
- Document Type
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- John Beierle; 2012
- Field Date
- 1996, 2003
- Coverage Date
- 1996, 2003
- Coverage Place
- Loiza, Northeast Coast, Puerto Rico
- Notes
- by Samiri Hernández Hiraldo ; translated by Mariana Ortega-Brena
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 79-82)
- LCCN
- 74645710
- LCSH
- Puerto Ricans