{"id":37088,"date":"2014-08-18T01:14:29","date_gmt":"2014-08-18T01:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=37088"},"modified":"2017-03-23T19:29:31","modified_gmt":"2017-03-23T19:29:31","slug":"puerto-rico-the-four-storeyed-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=37088","title":{"rendered":"Puerto Rico: The Four-Storeyed Country"},"content":{"rendered":"

Puerto Rico: The Four-Storeyed Country<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Markus Wiener Publishers<\/a>
\n2013-08-26
\n154 pages
\nPaperback ISBN: 1558760725; ISBN-13: 9781558760721<\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 Luis Gonz\u00e1lez<\/strong><\/a> (1926-1996)<\/p>\n

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In this work, Gonz\u00e1lez dismantles the myth of a dominant Spanish and racially white national culture in Puerto Rican history. He claims that the national identity is primarily Mestizo (mixed race) with a significant contribution from Africa. Gonz\u00e1lez calls the African slaves and Mestizo peasantry the first Puerto Ricans because they were the first inhabitants who had to make the island their home. Having witnessed successful uprisings in neighboring Haiti, the Spanish authorities encouraged white immigrants to settle in Puerto Rico in an attempt to \u201cwhiten\u201d the population, then thought to be tilting dangerously to the advantage of the Afro-Antilleans. These immigrants became the small but influential class of landowners and, later, urban professionals.<\/p>\n

According to the author\u2019s grand metaphor, Afro-Antilleans and Mestizos constitute the first \u201cstorey,\u201d or tier, of the \u201cPuerto Rican house\u201d of the title, landowners the second, urban professionals the third, and the managerial class the fourth.<\/p>\n

Table of Contents<\/strong><\/p>\n