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Abstract
Drawing upon Critical Race and racialization theories, this article aims at providing a different approach to ‘The New Puerto Rican Bomba Movement’. Bomba is a musical genre of African roots developed in Puerto Rico upon the arrival of African populations during the slave trade in the sixteenth century. In the last two decades, a proliferation of Bomba groups and schools performing and teaching this peculiar rhythm has taken place. I attempt to unravel two interrelated paradoxes: (1) despite hegemonic discourses on Puerto Rican nationalism, which portray the Puerto Rican subject as mixed race, most Puerto Ricans self-identify racially as white or Black. (2) Based on the assumption of a racially mixed national subject, Puerto Rico reaffirms itself as a racial democracy, ‘The great Puerto Rican family’. This discourse contrasts with daily speeches and practices that emphasize racial exclusions and inequalities.
Notes
1. It is the author's prerogative to write Black people and Blackness with B and Afro with A capitalized throughout the text.
2. Even though Dennis McQuail is referring to the USA and European contexts, it is a fact that in the Puerto Rican media the participation of Black people is minimal. As a result, this statement can be used and generalized to describe the situation of the Puerto Rican media. By using the 2010 Census results, I can affirm that Black people are a minority in Puerto Rico because 75% of the population racially defines itself as white; only 12% self-identify as Black. As early as Citation1985 Tómas Blanco was saying, ‘… one could never seriously consider our people as a black community’ in his El prejuicio racial en Puerto Rico (133).
4. Pitorro, or sugar cane rum, is an alcoholic beverage made clandestinely in alembics whose production and sale is illegal in Puerto Rico. It is mostly consumed during Christmas seasons and there are many flavors available.
5. On 6 February 1980, Adolfina Villanueva died after being shot with a policeman's weapon. Many sheriffs and policemen arrived at Villanueva's residence with an eviction order to. Villanueva lived with her husband, Agustin Carrasquillo Pinet on a property given to them by his father, located in the Tocones de Loíza neighborhood. Even though the Bomba says Adolfina had a machete in hand, Mr Agustin denies that version of the story and assures that they were unarmed when the police intervened at the home where they lived since they got married and raised their three children.