This work addresses the question of how the patron saint festivities in San Germán, Puerto Rico assisted in the reconstruction of the Puerto Rican nation during the 1950s. Particularly, I focus on how community leaders reproduced ideas of nationhood based on hispano-centric, white, Catholic, and patriarchal parameters. I investigate how an…[Read more]

This work addresses the question of how the patron saint festivities in San Germán, Puerto Rico assisted in the reconstruction of the Puerto Rican nation during the 1950s. Particularly, I focus on how community leaders reproduced ideas of nationhood based on hispano-centric, white, Catholic, and patriarchal parameters. I investigate how an…[Read more]

This work addresses the question of how the patron saint festivities in San Germán, Puerto Rico assisted in the reconstruction of the Puerto Rican nation during the 1950s. Particularly, I focus on how community leaders reproduced ideas of nationhood based on hispano-centric, white, Catholic, and patriarchal parameters. I investigate how an…[Read more]

When the United States took possession of Puerto Rico in 1898, an aggressive
Americanization project introduced cultural practices, including
American sports. However, although Puerto Ricans incorporated U.S.
sports to their sporting profile, they did so adhering to a larger Hispanic-
American ideology. Although soccer, or f ´ utbol, was…[Read more]

When the United States took possession of Puerto Rico in 1898, an aggressive
Americanization project introduced cultural practices, including
American sports. However, although Puerto Ricans incorporated U.S.
sports to their sporting profile, they did so adhering to a larger Hispanic-
American ideology. Although soccer, or f ´ utbol, was…[Read more]

When the United States took possession of Puerto Rico in 1898, an aggressive
Americanization project introduced cultural practices, including
American sports. However, although Puerto Ricans incorporated U.S.
sports to their sporting profile, they did so adhering to a larger Hispanic-
American ideology. Although soccer, or f ´ utbol, was…[Read more]

Ceded to the United States under the terms of the Treaty of Paris after the Spanish-American War of 1898, Puerto Rico has since remained a colonial territory. Despite this subordinated colonial experience, however, Puerto Ricans managed to secure national Olympic representation in the 1930s and in so doing nurtured powerful ideas of…[Read more]

This chapter discusses the political events surrounding the Central American and Caribbean Games of 1966 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It demonstrates how the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico became dangerously entangled within Cold War tensions by denying invitation to, and visas for, the Cuban delegation to the Games. Citing security concerns over tens…[Read more]

This paper examines how two Caribbean islands, Puerto Rico and Jamaica, developed ideas of national identity while negotiating political emancipation within two distinct, yet allied Anglophone empires. We can see this process through the Olympic movement and referred to here as “colonial Olympism.” Both Puerto Rico and Jamaica participated as col…[Read more]

Contextualized in a Western push for post-war decolonization and modernization, the development of recreation programs in 1950s Puerto Rico helped consolidate the state’s sport institution and, in turn, legitimize a new political status. The 1950s was a pivotal decade in Puerto Rican history due to the creation of the Commonwealth in 1952 and t…[Read more]

During the 1940s, Puerto Rico enjoyed the benefits of a U.S. sponsored economic boom as a result of the Second World War. Taking advantage of this influx of capital, the Puerto Rican government’s sport and recreation commission, led by Julio Enrique Monagas, sought out an island-wide plan to build sport and recreational facilities under a social j…[Read more]