Feminism and the Puerto Rican Independence Movement Since the 1950S
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Feminism and the Puerto Rican Independence Movement since the 1950s. From Unrequited Love to a Matching Pair? Camille Le Pioufle To cite this version: Camille Le Pioufle. Feminism and the Puerto Rican Independence Movement since the 1950s. From Unrequited Love to a Matching Pair?. Linguistics. 2019. dumas-02172215 HAL Id: dumas-02172215 https://dumas.ccsd.cnrs.fr/dumas-02172215 Submitted on 3 Jul 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivatives| 4.0 International License Université Européenne de Bretagne Université Rennes 2 Master Langues et Cultures Etrangères et Régionales : Spécialité Aires Anglophones Feminism and the Puerto Rican Independence Movement since the 1950s From Unrequited Love to a Matching Pair? Camille LE PIOUFLE Sous la direction de Anaïs LE FEVRE-BERTHELOT 2019 Université Européenne de Bretagne Université Rennes 2 Master Langues et Cultures Etrangères et Régionales : Spécialité Aires Anglophones Feminism and the Puerto Rican Independence Movement since the 1950s From Unrequited Love to a Matching Pair? Camille LE PIOUFLE Sous la direction de Anaïs LE FEVRE-BERTHELOT 2019 Acknowledgments I am grateful to my thesis supervisor Professor Anaïs Le Fèvre-Berthelot for her help with clarifying my topic and structuring my development, and for her most welcome input with feminist questions. I also want to thank Professor Isabel Córdova from Nazareth College at Rochester, NY for introducing me to the topic of Latinos in the US, a subject that I was absolutely not familiar with. I became fascinated with the history of Puerto Rico and the ambiguous status of its people as ‘second-class US citizens’ and would not have developed this interest without participating in her class. Finally, thank you to my Spanish-speaking friends for checking my translations. 2 List of Acronyms and Organizations Alianza Feminista por la Liberación Humana – Feminist Alliance for Human Liberation Asociación de Mujeres Periodistas – Association of Women Journalists Cadets of the Republic – Cadetes de la Repúblic CESA – Committee to End Sterilization Abuse ELA – Estado Libre Asociado – Free Associated State Daughters of Freedom – Hijas de la Libertad FALN – Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional, Armed Forces for National Liberation Federación de Mujeres Puertorriqueñas – Federation of Puerto Rican Women Feministas en Marcha – Feminists on the Move Free Federation of Labor – Federación Libre de Trabajadores Liberation Army of Puerto Rico – Ejército Libertador de Puerto Rico MINH – Movimiento Independentista Nacionalista Hostosiano Mujer Intégrate Ahora – Women Integrate Now NP – Partido Nationalista – Nationalist Party Partido de la Independencia – Party for Independence PIP – Partido Independentista Puertorriqueño – Puerto Rican Independence Party Popular Feminist Association of Women Workers in Puerto Rico – Asociación Feminista Popular de Mujeres Oberas de Puerto Rico Puerto Rican Association of Women Suffragists – Asociación Puertorriqueña de Mujeres Sufragistas Puerto Rican Feminist League – Ligua Femínea Puertorriqueña PPD – Partido Popular Democrático – Puerto Rican Democratic Party PNP – Partido Nuevo Progresista – New Progressive Party Republican Party – Partido Republicano Socialist Party – Partido Socialista Suffragist Social League – Liga social Sufragista Union Party – Partido Unión YLP – Young Lords Party 3 Table of Contents Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................... 2 List of Acronyms and Organizations ..................................................................................... 3 Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 6 PART I ........................................................................................................................................ Women Shaping a Puerto Rican Identity in a Strained Political Situation ..................... 17 A. Being a Woman in Puerto Rico in the 20th Century .................................................... 17 § A Growing Economic, Political, and Cultural Involvement .................................... 17 § The Feminist Revival of the 1970s .......................................................................... 21 § Persistence of a ‘Machismo’ Culture and US influence .......................................... 24 B. Rise and Decline of Puerto Rican Nationalism ............................................................ 27 § Recurrent Puerto Rican Attempts to Proclaim Independence .................................. 28 § An Ambiguous Puerto Rican Political Status .......................................................... 30 § Radical Nationalism of the Nationalist Party Under Albizu Campos Leadership ... 32 § The Nationalist Revolts of 1950 .............................................................................. 35 § Towards a Weakening of the Nationalist Sentiment ................................................ 36 C. A Continuous Support for Independence ..................................................................... 38 § Beyond Nationalism: Political Parties and Organizations Fighting for Independence ........................................................................................................... 39 § Support from the Mainland ...................................................................................... 42 § Puerto Rico’s Political Status in the 21st Century .................................................... 44 PART II ...................................................................................................................................... Feminism at Work: Women’s Role in the Independence Movement Post-1950s, and the Inclusion of Women’s Rights Issues ..................................................................................... 47 A. Shy Feminism: Women and the Nationalist Party in the 1950s .................................. 47 § Pedro Albizu Campos Wants to Include Women .................................................... 48 § Female Voices and Attachment to the Nationalist Cause ........................................ 51 § Women’s Rights on the Sideline .............................................................................. 55 B. Independence Movement Using Women’s Rights: The Sensitive Topic of Sterilization Abuse ........................................................................................................................... 57 § US Policies Against Overpopulation in Puerto Rico ............................................... 57 § La Operación ............................................................................................................ 59 § Sterilization in Relation to Nationalism, Colonialism, and Feminism .................... 61 § The Committee to End Sterilization Abuse ............................................................. 64 C. Feminism Stated Loud and Clear: The Young Lords Party ......................................... 65 § 'We Want Self-Determination for Puerto Ricans’ ................................................... 66 § ‘We Want Equality for Women: Down with Machismo and Male Chauvinism’ .... 68 4 D. Feminism and Independence in 21st Century Puerto Rico: More of a Matching Pair . 74 § The First Women to Represent the Independence Cause at the Puerto Rican Senate ....................................................................................................................... 74 § The Puerto Rican Independence Party: An Advocate of Women’s Rights? ........... 79 PART III ..................................................................................................................................... Nationalism and Feminism: Not Necessarily Mutually Exclusive? ................................... 84 A. Nationalism and Feminism: A Difficult Cooperation on Paper ................................... 86 § Defining “Traditional” Nationalism ........................................................................ 86 § A Third-Wave Feminism’s Acknowledgment of Multiple Forms of Oppression ... 87 § Feminists Reject Nationalism .................................................................................. 90 B. A Feminist Nationalism? Prospects on a Possible Reconciliation Enlarged to the Puerto Rican Context ................................................................................................... 94 § Recognizing Third World Women’s Agency and Voices ....................................... 94 § Why Nationalism Should Not Be Automatically Dismissed in Feminist Theories: Converging Interests Under Particular Circumstances ........................... 96 § Beyong a Static National Identity: Reconceptualizing Nationalism .......................