| |
| author |
Caitlin Bonita Shannon
| | title |
Reconstrucciones de identidad: El arte callejero en San Juan, Puerto Rico
| | abstract |
As a nation without a state, Puerto Rico has established its sovereignty and
uniqueness principally through the creation and affirmation of a distinctive cultural
identity that has been codified through particular symbols created and used by
intellectuals, cultural institutions and the government. These symbols have been utilized
as a way to disconnect Puerto Rican cultural identity from questions of politics and
economics, thus creating a cultural, rather than civic or political, nationalism. But with
the dawn of the island's financial crisis and the destruction left behind by Hurricane
María, it has become obvious that Puerto Rican identity can no longer exist separate from
the neocolonial reality of its commonwealth status. The place this has become most
obvious? Street art; perfectly suited to debate and reconstruct the nation due to its
accessibility and roots in the voices of the people rather than national or cultural
institutions. In the street art of the Puerto Rican capital, San Juan, we see how the cultural
symbols created by institutions have been reclaimed and reframed by street artists. The
adaptation of traditional symbols like the jíbaro, the taíno and the Puerto Rican flag
exemplify the evolution of Puerto Rican identity, namely how these symbols are being
manipulated and used to comment upon the colonial reality of the island and to dialogue
with the colonial powers that control it. This thesis examines street art found on visits to
San Juan in May 2018 and January 2019. Each chapter presents specific street works that
utilize traditional symbols, and analyzes the ways in which they use and manipulate these
symbols of identity. The first chapter examines the jíbaro, the second focuses on the
taínos and the third explores the flag. The analysis of these symbols reveals how Puerto
Rican identity is still in the making and how that construction is directly affected by the
current situation and status of the island.
| | school |
The College of Liberal Arts, Drew University
| | degree |
B.A. (2019)
|
| advisor |
Raul Rosales
|
| committee |
Monica Cantero
Marie Pascal Pieretti
|
| full text | CShannon.pdf |
| |
