Puerto Rican identity, diaspora and exile

Abstract

From the first half of the twentieth century in Puerto Rico, and following the US invasion of the country in 1898, Puerto Ricans have been forced to emigrate periodically to the metropolis due to pressing economic needs, a reality that is reproduced, notwithstanding demographic variability, during the early decades of the twenty-first century. Prejudice and discrimination have been pervasive elements, both in “here” and “there”—aquí y allá—throughout these migration cycles. In these paper, I review this reality from the lens provided by the concept of “exile”, as understood by Edward Said, as a possible new angle of understanding of the notion of “political community”, and consequently, Puerto Rican identity/ies, not to mention the still inconclusive democratic Project of the country.