Culture, power and struggle: Anti-military protest in Vieques, Puerto Rico.
Item
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Title
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Culture, power and struggle: Anti-military protest in Vieques, Puerto Rico.
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Identifier
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AAI9924827
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identifier
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9924827
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Creator
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McCaffrey, Katherine Temple.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Ida Susser
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Date
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1999
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Anthropology, Cultural | Political Science, General | Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquaculture
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Abstract
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This dissertation examines a decades-long conflict between a Puerto Rican community and the U.S. Navy in Vieques, Puerto Rico. The dissertation examines how culture is mobilized in struggle as it considers the significance of an anti-military movement led by local fishermen. In a highly charged and politically divisive colonial setting, the image of the fisherman allows Vieques Islanders to express local grievances in terms that are "authentic," i.e. untainted by a broader political agenda. Fishermen draw attention to the material basis of local grievances on an island where the U.S. Navy controls two-thirds of the land. Fishermen emerge as key cultural icons in Viequenses' conflict with the Navy because they are important and meaningful expressions of the island's working class culture and rural past. At the same time, the leadership of fishermen in Vieques' anti-military movement demonstrates the way colonialism constrains other forms of more overt political expression. Conflict surrounding the U.S. military thus brings to the fore the struggles, contradictions and ambivalence that are generated by Puerto Rico's colonial status.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
