The People of Puerto Rico in Puerto Rico: Past and Contemporary Reactions to the Book

Like other students of social sciences trained in Puerto Rico in the late 1980s and 1990s, the author of this article learned about The People of Puerto Rico while studying abroad in the US - not in Puerto Rico. This article explores why, in spite of its influential contribution to anthropology and to the social sciences in general, this important book was not widely read or taught at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR). To explore this paradox, the author examines the very critical reception that the People of Puerto Rico project had among Puerto Rican academics at the time of its development and thereafter. The article pays particular attention to the political climate and to the criticism posed by Dr. Milton Pabon, a political scientist who believed in political independence for Puerto Rico. Pabon disagreed with, among other things, the book's understanding that Puerto Rico did not have a "national culture." Pabon died in 2009, but offered an interview and wrote an unpublished manuscript about the book before his death. This paper summarizes some of his views and contextualizes the effects of similar "pro-independence" critiques on the limited dissemination of the book at the UPR. The article contrasts such views to more contemporary "post-modern" understandings of the Puerto Rican nation. Finally, based on an analysis of informal interviews, library records, and the graffiti of library copies, the author also comments on the current reception of the book among university students.