Joseph Morales 801-10-4760 INGL 3285-001 Prof.

Katherine Miranda What theoretical terms are used to classify Puerto Rican migration and how accurately do they represent the lived experiences of migrants? The term migration has carried, throughout history, a negative connotation, and one of the main reasons it receives such resentfulness is because the families that stay behind see the migrators as vacillating in maintaining their heritage or customs. However, the Puerto Rican migration, or diaspora, has broken such stigmas and boundaries in the sense that they themselves are part of Puerto Rico as a cultural nation and evolution. In Jorge Duanys The Puerto Rican Nation on the Move, he presents the argument that, even after more than a centurys worth of US colonialism, Puerto Ricans [] display stronger cultural identity than do most Caribbean people, even those who enjoy political independence (1). As a result of the diasporic dualism of being boricuas the colloquial term that refers to Puerto Ricans whilst living in North America, Duany classifies the migrators as wielders of transnational identities, a term that very accurately conveys the living experience of the diaspora community. For instance, Puerto Rico does not thoroughly fit the term of a nation, especially because it belongs but is not part of the United States (4), meaning it does not have political independence, a key element in the description of nations worldwide. Traditionally, a nation is a large group of people that has an established territory, common language, a shared culture and history, and is politically unrestrained. Nonetheless, Duany states: [] that Puerto Rico is indeed a nation, but a nation on the move (4). In doing so, he [] redefines the nation not as a well-bounded sovereign state but as a translocal community based on a collective consciousness of a shared history, language, and culture (4). Through this redefinition, Duany opens the door for the creation of transnational identities, which he stipulates is a hybrid of both the diasporic community abroad and the Island community, each extracting from the same cultural background. For this reason, there is a subsequent inability to separate the migratory experience from Puerto Rican history or the Puerto Rican culture from the diaspora abroad. Accordingly, this shared past between the diasporic community and the Island is strengthened by [] the continuing sociocultural links between the diaspora and its community of origin (6). A perfect example of these sociocultural links is visualized in the year 2000, when, as a whole community, Puerto Ricans abroad and Islanders

alike united to defend Vieques, la Isla Nena, which in many subtextual aspects represents the cultural independence Puerto Rico possesses, stating in unsaid ways that Vieques is part of mainland Puerto Rico, and not of the United States. Thus, the term transnational identities encompasses the very sense of diaspora boricuas as being a part of mainland Puerto Rico while living in the United States, and their willingness of retaining their ethnic origins in spite of their individual and surrounding social conditions. Therefore, Duanys sense to call Puerto Ricans wielders of transnational identities remains one of the most accurate ways of describing the complex reality that we live nowadays. In spite of that, sharing all these common stories and cultural distinctions makes it even harder for everyday Islanders to accept diaspora Puerto Ricans as their own. Even so, under certain stress circumstances, boricuas from all over have been known to set aside their differences and fight for a common goal, such as it was with the Vieques incident in early 2000. As a whole, Puerto Rico cannot be classified as a nation in the historic sense of the word; but due to its amounting cultural history, it can be redefined as a cultural nation. And lastly, in an oxymoronic clash of ideas, the constant movement of both people and culture between the U.S. and Puerto Rico impedes a clear understanding of the complex sociocultural life of boricuas abroad, yet allows for a stronger sense of overall community, leaving everyday Puerto Ricans unsure of their own beliefs regarding the diaspora and its repercussions.