The Near Northwest Side Story

Puerto Rican Victimization and Crime on the Mainland

“…However, this research argues that the Puerto Rican experience can and should be framed within an immigration framework. Puerto Ricans are best understood from a transnational perspective (Aranda, 2007a;Duany, 2002;Perez, 2004). While not officially considered as "immigrants" due to the political status of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which includes U.S. citizenship for those born on the island, their experiences are similar to those of other immigrants (Perez, 2004).…”

“…Puerto Ricans are best understood from a transnational perspective (Aranda, 2007a;Duany, 2002;Perez, 2004). While not officially considered as "immigrants" due to the political status of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which includes U.S. citizenship for those born on the island, their experiences are similar to those of other immigrants (Perez, 2004). Puerto Rico and its residents have a history of subjugation and exploitation by the United States that differentiates it from mainland states (Ariza, 2010).…”

Struggles of Incorporation among The Puerto Rican Middle Class

“…Many scholars have demonstrated how communities around the world are interwoven into transnational social fields (Basch et al. 1994; Levitt 2001; Pérez 2004; Smith 2005). Grounded in Bourdieu’s work and building on the work of Basch and her colleagues (1994), Levitt and Glick Schiller (2004) expand the concept of a “social field” to mean “a set of multiple interlocking networks of social relationships through which ideas, practices, and resources are exchanged, organized, and transformed” (p. 1009).…”

“…In spite of the fact that they do not cross international borders when they travel to the United States, Puerto Rico’s lack of sovereignty in combination with their collective sense of cultural nationhood (Duany 2002) means that they do cross geopolitical, social, racial, and cultural borders. This has led some scholars to conclude that the case of Puerto Rican migration should be examined from a transnational perspective (Duany 2002; Pérez 2004), as their mobility resembles the patterns of other transnational migrants who are understood to be “here and there and in between” (Guarnizo 1997:166).…”

“…I attempt to understand the meanings that participants gave to these experiences (Denzin 1997) through the analysis of in‐depth interviews with 40 Puerto Ricans (20 who moved to and settled in the U.S. mainland and 20 who returned to live on the Island after U.S. settlement). Although Puerto Ricans are not considered to be immigrants given their political status as a U.S. Commonwealth, the geopolitical borders they cross as colonial migrants (Grosfoguel 1997), their modes of incorporation as colonial racial subjects (Grosfoguel and Georas 2000), and the cultural borders crossed (Duany 2002) render their experiences similar to immigrant ones (Pérez 2004). Yet, because of their citizenship status they should have an easier time with the migration process itself, offering an important opportunity to understand specific struggles related to incorporation.…”