Etnografando em Porto Rico : um olhar sensível sobre a cultura Boricua

Abstract

Puerto Rico has a political dimension and status that are very particular in the world scenario, as the island is an unincorporated State of the United States of America. Its population owns the American citizenship since 1917, and the issue of cultural identity is recurrently dealt with and discussed when talking about the country, as well as inferences regarding cultural blends – and an Americanization – unfold in some theoretical debates. This study intends to analyze how the Puerto Rican cultural identity has been built from the perceptions and experiences of inhabitants of a community, emphasizing the nationalism and pride as a way of recognizing the cultural identity of Puerto Rico. The methodology consists in a qualitative research, in which an ethnographic study was done in the first semester of 2015. The place that was researched about was the “Tras Talleres” community, located in the neighborhood of Santurce, in the capital San Juan. The methodological techniques used in the study were the participant observation, open interviews and photographic records. Ten interviews were done with people who live in the neighborhood and, through visual anthropology, images were used as another form of narrative, added to the textual description. Through the performed method, the aim was to identify how these people, by their experience, see and build their identity as part of the national culture of the country, in accordance with the historical reality of Puerto Rico.