PORTABLE ROOTS: LATIN NEW YORKER COMMUNITY BUILDING AND THE MEANINGS OF WOMEN'S RETURN MIGRATION IN SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO, 1960-2000

• Published in: Caribbean studies 2009-07, Vol.37 (2), p.3-43
• Main Author: Findlay, Eileen J.
• Format: Article
• Language: eng ; spa
• Subjects: Class; Communities; Cultural Diversity; Cultural identity; Diaspora; Diasporas; Emigration and Immigration - history; Emigration and Immigration - legislation & jurisprudence; Ethnic Groups - education; Ethnic Groups - ethnology; Ethnic Groups - history; Ethnic Groups - legislation & jurisprudence; Ethnic Groups - psychology; Gender; Gender Identity; History of medicine; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Humans; Identity; Latin American studies; Men; MicroRNA; Narration - history; Narratives; Narrators; New York; New York - ethnology; Parents; Puerto Ricans; Puerto Rico; Puerto Rico - ethnology; Return migration; Salsas; Social Identification; Social Isolation - psychology; Social mobility; Social Mobility - economics; Social Mobility - history; Transients and Migrants - education; Transients and Migrants - history; Transients and Migrants - legislation & jurisprudence; Transients and Migrants - psychology; U.S.A; Women; Women's Health - ethnology; Women's Health - history; Women's Rights - economics; Women's Rights - education; Women's Rights - history; Women's Rights - legislation & jurisprudence; Women, Working - education; Women, Working - history; Women, Working - legislation & jurisprudence; Women, Working - psychology
• ISSN: 0008-6533; 1940-9095
• DOI: 10.1353/crb.2010.0012

This article examines the life histories of women return migrants to Puerto Rico. It emphasizes the cultural aspects of return migration, especially how the narrators understood and expressed their collective identity as distinctive from Puerto Ricans born and raised on the island. These informants turned their life histories into morality fables of class mobility, gender role restriction, and social rejection on the island. These tales asserted their radical differences from both middle class-islanders, whom they had joined, and the working-class diaspora in New York City, from which they had come. The narrators also built an organization which reinforced their "Latin New Yorker" identity, invented on the island. Este artículo examina las historias de vida de migrantes femeninas de retorno a Puerto Rico. El ensayo enfatiza los aspectos culturales de la migración de retorno, particularmente cómo las narradoras distinguieron su identidad colectiva de la de los puertorriqueños nacidos y criados en la Isla. Estas narradoras convirtieron sus historias de vida en fábulas de moralidad de movilidad de clase, retricciones basadas en el género, y rechazo social en la Isla, las cuales insistieron en sus diferencias radicales de los isleños de clase media y la diáspora obrera en Nueva York. Las narradoras también construyeron una organización que reforzó su identidad de "Latin New Yorker", la cual fue inventada en la Isla. Cet article analyse les récits de vie de femmes migrantes qui retournent à Porto Rico de New York. Il se concentre sur les aspects culturels des mouvements migratoires de retour au pays, notamment sur la manière dont les narratrices ont différencié leur identité collective de celle des portoricains nés et élevés à Porto Rico. Ces narratrices ont reformulé leurs récits de vie en termes de fables caractérisées par une morale de mobilité de classe, des limitations basées sur le genre et le rejet social sur l'Île. Ces histories de vie ont mis l'accent sur les différences radicales entre les portoricains de classe moyenne et la diaspora ouvrière à New York. Les narratrices ont également créé un organisme qui a renforcé leur identité de «Latin New Yorker», inventée sur l'Île.