Behind the imaginary nation: multiplicity, diversity and selfdetermination for Puerto Rico
| Autor | Lcda. Yanira Reyes Gil |
| Páginas | iii-xi |
iii
Behind the imaginary nation: multiplicity,
diversity and self-determination for Puerto Rico1
Por: Lcda. Yanira Reyes Gil2
Good morning! I am Yanira Reyes and I’m a
puertorriqueña. And if you have met any Puerto Ricans, you
know we are obsessed with Puerto Rico. Not with the
beautiful beaches and gentle people, but with the colonial
situation, some of us would say, or the political status, others
would say, or with our identity, I think all of us would say.
This general obsession comes perhaps as a way of
compensation for some common complex of inferiority, some
kind of self-esteem problem caused by our lack of sovereignty
and history of colonial domination or dependence (other
would call it). But since I am not a psychologist, and do not
think those kind of generalizations will take us anywhere, I
am not going to even try to get to the roots or ultimate causes
of this obsession.
The identity issue has transformed in Puerto Rico on
reliance upon the concept of nation as an identity linkage.
National identity then becomes that thing that unites us, which
define us, a tool and a goal. That thing nobody can define but
everybody knows, as would be love, sincerity or obscenity
(like the Supreme Court of the US would have us believe). A
feeling that gets materialized in our “national” flag, and
appears after a couple of Medallas (our national beer), a
1 Ponencia dictada en Convención de Lat Crit en Río de Janeiro.
2 Doctorado en Sociología de la Universidad de Purdue. Profesora de los
cursos de Derecho Constitucional, Introducción al Derecho, Investigación,
análisis y redacción y Raza y Género en la Facultad de Derecho de la
Universidad Interamericana, Puerto Rico.
Para continuar leyendo
Solicita tu prueba