The Political `Flying Bus'

Abstract

The colonial political relationship of Puerto Rico to the United States has established certain contexts which stimulate debates about citizenship, culture and Puerto Ricanness. The US Congress has been a space where these issues have been contested since 1898, when Puerto Rico became part of the United States. I analyze the discursive contests that took place during 1990 in Congress over just who were the Puerto Ricans entitled to vote in a plebiscite to decide Puerto Rico's political status. I examine the ways in which the trans-national and highly problematic Puerto Rican identity was constructed and contested in this context between Puerto Ricans in the United States and Puerto Ricans in Puerto Rico.