Politics of Puerto Rico Final!

Functional City Model:

• A theoretical urban planning model by CIAM that divides the city into separate zones for housing, work, leisure, and transportation. 

• This is significant because it influenced modern urban development in Puerto Rico by promoting zoning and organized planning. However, it also contributed to the creation of a fragmented city with disconnected spaces and social inequality. 

Fragmented City:

• A city made up of disconnected spaces, such as suburbs, public housing, highways, and commercial areas. According to Mignussi, present-day San Juan is a fragmented city. 

• This is significant because it reflects the outcome of modern urban planning influenced by functional city principles and contributes to social inequality and spatial segregation.

Emergy:

• Emergy is the total energy used to produce a good or service. It includes inputs such as natural resources, labor, and fuel, measured in a single unit: solar energy units. 

• It is significant because it allows for the comparison of economic, environmental, and social values within one framework, helping to evaluate sustainability.

Food Sovereignty:

• The right people have to control their own food systems, including how food is produced. It emphasizes local production and community decision-making. 

• This is significant in the case of Puerto Rico because it shows how people lack control over their food due to colonial power and dependence on imports. 

Topophilia

• Topophilia is the emotional attachment people have to a place, often described as the ¨ the love of place.¨ It refers to how people identify with and care for their surroundings.

• It is significant because, in the case of Casa Pueblo, it motivates communities to protect their land and support local self-governance.

Social Territory

• A shared space that a community collectively identifies with and builds meaning around. It is created through social relationships, participation, and common experiences in a place. 

• It is significant because it gives people a sense of belonging and identity while allowing communities like Casa Pueblo to organize, resist harmful projects, and promote self-governance.

Caserio:

• A government housing project created for low-income residents to relocate from slums into modern, state-built housing. These spaces were intended to be a transitional step toward homeownership while also serving to ¨ modernize¨ residents through social and spatial control. 

• This is significant because caserios reinforced stigma, inequality, and colonial ideas about poor, racialized communities.

Bordering:

• The process of physically and socially separating public housing communities through practices such as policing, surveillance, and the construction of walls.  This caused Caserios to become isolated and stigmatized. 

• This is significant because it shows how the government shifted from trying to organize or reform residents to isolating and containing them.

City Marketing:

• City marketing is the process of a city promoting itself to attract investment and residents. For example, Guaynabo markets itself as efficient, safe, and prestigious. 

• This is significant because it helped drive the growth of gated communities and increased social inequality and segregation.

Neoliberalism:

• Neoliberalism is an economic and political ideology that promotes free markets, privatization, and reduced government intervention. In Puerto Rico, this can be seen in the development of gated communities in places like Guaynabo, often supported by partnerships with the private sector. This is significant because it leads to the privatization of space and increases spatial and social inequality and segregation.

Blanqueamiento:

• Blanqueamiento refers to the process of ¨whitening.¨ This occurs when individuals are socially considered whiter as they gain higher status or adopt certain cultural traits.

• This is significant because it shows that race in Puerto Rico is fluid and linked to social class and status.

Mestizaje:

• Mestizaje refers to the ideology that Puerto Rican identity is based on racial mixture. It refers to the mix of Spanish, Taino, and African heritage. 

• This is significant because it frames society as racially harmonious and mixed, while masking persistent inequality. 

Necropolitics:

• A framework where the state or society has the power to determine who gets to live and who gets to die. In this system, marginalized groups, such as trans women, are subjected to harm and vulnerability at higher rates. 

• This is significant because it shows how structural inequality and discrimination can lead to suffering and premature death for marginalized groups.  

Structural Violence:

• Refers to the way marginalized groups are indirectly harmed by social systems and institutions. For trans women, this includes a lack of access to healthcare and discrimination in employment and education.

• This is significant because it shows how inequality and discrimination can put certain groups at greater risk of suffering and premature death. 

Coraje:

• Coraje means the feeling of anger, rage, or even courage in response to injustice and oppression. It is a political emotion that can motivate resistance and collective action. 

• This is significant because it shows how emotions like anger can become a powerful tool for political change.

Section 936 (1976)

• Section 936 was a provision (section) of the U.S. tax code that gave major tax breaks to U.S. corporations investing in Puerto Rico. It encouraged industrialization by attracting investment and creating jobs.

• This is significant because, although it boosted economic growth in the late 20th century, its removal led to deindustrialization, contributing to economic decline and the debt crisis.

Deindustrialization:

• Refers to the loss or decline of the manufacturing sector and industrial activity in an economy. It occurs when factories close, production decreases, and jobs are lost. 

• This is significant because it leads to unemployment, economic decline, and reduced government revenue, contributing to Puerto Rico´s debt crisis. 

PROMESA:

• A U.S. federal law passed in 2016 to address Puerto Rico´s debt crisis. The law created a Financial Oversight Board and established a legal process for restructuring the island´s public debt. 

• PROMESA is significant because it addresses the debt crisis but raises concerns about democratic governance due to the Oversight Board´s immense decision-making power.

Oversight Board (Financial Oversight and Management Board/Fiscal Control Board):

• An unelected body created under PROMESA in 2016 to manage Puerto Rico´s finances and debt. It has the power to control budgets, fiscal plans, and debt restructuring, and can override decisions made by the local government. 

• It is significant because it limits Puerto Rico´s autonomy and reinforces its colonial status. 

Austerity:

• Austerity refers to government policies that reduce government spending to address debt and economic crisis. In Puerto Rico, austerity included layoffs, pension cuts, privatization, higher taxes, and reduced funding for services. 

• It is significant because it disproportionately impacts working people and has worsened economic and social conditions. 

PRRA (Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration):

• The PRRA was a New Deal Program in the 1930s to address poverty and improve housing and infrastructure in PR. It focused on economic development and modernization through state-led projects. It is significant because it introduced large-scale planning and laid the foundation for later public housing and modernization policies.

CIAM (International Congress of Modern Architecture Movement)

An international organization of architects that promoted modernist urban planning ideas like the Functional City Model. This group was significant because its ideas influenced urban design in Puerto Rico, like zoning and large-scale planning. These ideas contributed to the development of a fragmented city with social inequality and spatial segregation.

Sustainability

•  Sustainability is the ability to maintain a balance between economic, environmental, and social systems. It depends on using more renewable local resources rather than relying on nonrenewable and imported ones.

• It is significant because it ensures long-term stability, and Puerto Rico’s shift toward imports and fossil fuels shows a decline in sustainability over time. 

Self-sufficiency:

• The ability of a system to meet its needs using its own local resources instead of relying on imports. The Emergy article (Massol & Mejia), describes Puerto Rico as not self-sufficient because it depends heavily on imported fuel, goods, and services. 

• It is significant because this dependence makes the island less sustainable and more vulnerable to economic and environmental problems. 

Environmental stress:

• Refers to the pressure on the environment from human activity, such as the use of resources and imports. According to the Emergy article, this stress increases as PR becomes more industrialized. 

• It is significant because higher environmental stress shows the system is becoming less sustainable and causing more environmental damage.

Food Insecurity:

• The lack of reliable access to enough affordable and nutritious food. It occurs when people cannot consistently meet their basic food needs. 

• It is significant in the case of Puerto Rico because many people struggle to afford food due to dependence on imports and economic inequality.  

Right to Food:

• The right to food is the human right to have access to enough safe and nutritious food. It means governments are responsible for ensuring people can obtain food, either by producing it or being able to afford it.

• This is significant in Puerto Rico because colonial policies and economic inequality limit people´s ability to fully access this right. 

Coevolution:

• The idea that individuals and their communities develop and change over time. It means that personal growth and social change are interconnected and influence each other. 

• It is significant because, in Casa Pueblo, it explains how lasting self-governance depends on both the transformation of people and the community.

Ordering:

• The attempt to reform and ¨improve¨ poor people by controlling their behavior and living conditions. It involves teaching them how to live properly, behave modernly, and follow middle-class norms. 

• This is significant because it shows how the government tried to “fix” people instead of addressing structural inequality.

Colonial Laboratory:

• A place where colonial powers test policies, programs, and forms of control. In the article, Puerto Rico is treated as a space where the U.S. and local elites experiment with housing and social policies.

• This is significant because it shows how Puerto Rican people were treated as subjects to be fixed and not citizens. 

Stair Case Model of Mobility:

• The idea that people move step by step out of poverty through housing. According to Dinzey Flores, this means moving from slums to public housing and eventually home ownership.

• This is significant because it shows how the government expected upward mobility, but in reality many residents remained in public housing long-term

Upward Mobility:

• The ability of individuals or families to improve their economic and social status over time. According to Dinzey Flores, it was expected that residents would be able to move from slums to public housing and eventually home ownership.

• It is significant because this process often did not occur, demonstrating the faults and limits of housing policy. 

Temporary Housing:

• The idea that public housing was meant to be a short-term stage for poor families. According to Dinzey Flores, public housing was designed to help residents move from slums to eventually owning their own private homes. 

• It is significant because, in reality, these spaces became permanent for many, showing the failure of this policy and the importance of community attachment. 

Slum Clearance:

• The government's efforts to remove poor, overcrowded neighborhoods and replace them with planned housing developments. According to the temporary housing article, it involved relocating residents from slums into public housing projects. 

• This is significant because it displaced communities and ignored the social networks people had, contributing to inequality. 

Urban Renewal:

• Government efforts to redevelop and modernize cities through planning, construction, and housing programs. In the temporary housing article, this included slum clearance and the building of public housing to improve living conditions. 

• This is significant because it reshaped Puerto Rican cities while reinforcing control over poor populations and failing to solve deeper structural problems. 

Gated Communities:

• A gated community is a residential area with restricted access, often enclosed by walls, gates, or security.  According to the article by C. Suarez, these communities in Guaynabo are designed to attract middle- and upper-class residents seeking security and prestige. 

• It is significant because they contribute to social segregation, privatization of space, and increasing inequality in Puerto Rico. 

Law 21:

• Allows for the legal gating of existing neighborhoods. This law played a key role in expanding gated communities across Guaynabo and the island.

• It is significant because it legitimized the privatization of public space and contributed to increased segregation.

Spatial Assimilation:

• The process where people move to better neighborhoods as their income, education, and social status improve. 

• This is significant because it shows how housing and neighborhood quality are tied to social mobility. This also helps explain why some groups live in better neighborhoods than others. 

Passing:

• Passing refers to when a person is perceived as fitting into a socially accepted or “normative” identity, such as being seen as cisgender. Many trans individuals do this for acceptance or for saftey. 

• This is significant because it shows how people must adapt to social expectations in order to avoid discrimination and violence.

Death Worlds:

• Worlds where people are forced to live in conditions of constant suffering, danger, and insecurity. These worlds expose certain groups, such as transgender women, to harm and make survival more difficult. 

• This is significant because it shows how inequality can create situations where people are pushed closer to death.

Pathologies of Power:

• When power and inequality causes psysichal harm to the body. This harm can be appear as illness, stress, and early death. 

• This is significant because it shows how inequality and power structures directly affect people's health and wellbeing.

Atropello:

• Refers to the feeling of  ¨being run over¨ or violated/abused by injustice and systems of power. It describes how people feel harmed and mistreated by institutions such as the government or police. 

• This is significant because it highlights how structural inequality and state violence are experienced in everyday life.

Title III:

• A provision of PROMESA that allows Puerto Rico to restructure its debt through a court-supervised process similar to bankruptcy. It provides a legal framework for negotiating with creditors. 

• This is significant because Puerto Rico could not file for bankruptcy, so Title III was created as a substitute, highlighting its limited political power.

Colorism:

• Refers to discrimination based on skin tone, where lighter skin is often valued more than darker skin. It affects access to opportunities.

• This is significant because it contributes to inequality in areas like health in Puerto Rico.

La Reforma:

• Refers to Puerto Rico´s privatized healthcare system. It aimed to expand access to healthcare for low-income populations by giving them government-funded insurance through private companies. 

• This is significant because it created gaps in coverage, limited access to quality care, and worsened health disparities in Puerto Rico. 

Syndemics:

• Refers to the overlapping of health problems that occur at once. In the case of Puerto Rico, health issues like depression, chronic illness, and poverty happen at the same time and make eachother worse. 

• This is significant because it shows how multiple health issues and inequality combine to worsen overall health outcomes in Puerto Rico. 

Spatial Stigma:

• Refers to negative ideas or stigma attached to a place. These perceptions can shape how people see that place and influence their decisions. 

• This is significant because it plays a major role in influencing many physicians to leave Puerto Rico and work in the mainland. 

Brain Drain:

• A term used to describe the migration of skilled workers from one place to another. This often happens because people leave in search of better opportunities, like higher pay and improved working conditions.

• This is significant because it is causing a shortage of healthcare professionals in Puerto Rico. 

(Colonial) Reparations:

• Falcon argues that Puerto Rico’s crisis should be addressed through reparations rather than aid, because the island has suffered long-term colonial harm. He identifies 3 types of reparations: citizenship, land and economic, and psychological reparations. 

• This is significant because it reframes Puerto Rico’s situation as one requiring structural repair and justice, not just short-term policy solutions like PROMESA.

Citizenship Reparation:

• Reparation that involves addressing Puerto Rico´s unequal citizenship by ensuring citizens receive full political rights and a just political relationship with the U.S.

• This is significant because it highlights how political inequality is central to Puerto Rico’s colonial condition.

Land and economic reparation:

• Returning lands taken by the U.S. military and providing financial compensation for economic exploitation and environmental damage. 

• This is significant because it recognizes that Puerto Rico’s crisis is rooted in historical economic extraction and environmental harm, not just recent debt issues.

Psychological Reperations:

• Involve challenging colonial narratives, such as the myth that Puerto Rico is dependent or a “welfare state.” This helps restore dignity and historical recognition. This is significant because it addresses the cultural and ideological effects of colonialism, which shape how Puerto Rico is perceived and treated.