![]() A decade later, the results of the 2010 Census showed that 12.4 % of the population identified as Black and 75.8 % as white. Paradoxically, despite the fact that Puerto Ricans are considered a racially mixed nation, in the 2000 Census, 80.5 % self identified as white, whereas 8 % chose to identify as Black. This discourse contrasts with daily speeches and practices that emphasize racial exclusions and inequalities. (2) Based on the assumption of a racially mixed national subject, Puerto Rico reaffirms itself as a racial democracy, “The great Puerto Rican family”. ![]() Through the case study of “The New Puerto Rican Bomba Movement”, I attempt to unravel two interrelated paradoxes: (1) despite hegemonic discourses on Puerto Rican nationalism, which portray the Puerto Rican subject as mixed race, most Puerto Ricans self-identify racially as white or Black. At the same time, it will shed light on how national discourse aligns or deviates from current social conditions and racial relationships. In this sense, Bomba will allow me to analyze how Puerto Rican national identity has been constructed in recent years, which elements have been adopted as a national heritage and which have been forgotten or rejected. Through extended participant observation of Bomba performances, unstructured and structured interviews with Bomba musicians, teachers, and scholars and archival research, my purpose is to question and explore constructions of race in Puerto Rican music, and show how processes of racialization operate both socially and politically in the island. Through the study of Bomba, I seek to contribute to the understanding of racial dynamics in Puerto Rico, and their intersectionalities with class, gender, and national discourses. In the last two decades, a proliferation of Bomba groups and schools performing and teaching this peculiar rhythm has taken place. Bomba is a musical genre of African roots developed in Puerto Rico upon the arrival of African populations during the slave trade in the sixteenth century. whether it's teaching dance, drumming or basically I just want people that I feel for bomba," said Raggs.Drawing upon Critical Race and racialization theories, this dissertation aims at providing a different approach to “The New Puerto Rican Bomba Movement”. I want to give back to the people what bomba has given to me. Raggs said he discovered bomba about 17 years ago. "So it's pretty cool that bomba continues to do the same thing, even in our modern day world that we live in." "When I play bomba I feel that it's a tool to kind of release whatever I feel - whether it's happiness or sadness - there's different rhythms that kind of express those feelings and serve as kind of an outlet for the person to kind of relieve themselves which is also the historical context of bomba," said Quincy Raggs. It has to be present that this is music and this dance and this singing and this expression of our African ancestors."īorn out of tragedy, Bomba can release an explosion of emotions through its variation of rhythms. "We have to understand where's it's coming from. It's an opportunity to re-imagine the future in a community based setting," said Torres-Figueroa. Torres-Figueroa is the Director of Education and Programming at SRBCC which is making sure future generations keep the musical tradition alive with a new series of Bomba Labs now through December. "I believe that bomba is the most magnificent tool for healing." "Bomba is kind of our direct heritage from Africa," said Brenda Torres-Figueroa. That healing power still resonates today in Puerto Rico and in the United States, including Chicago.Ĭonsidered Puerto Rico's oldest music genre, Bomba fills the walls of the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center in the city's Hermosa neighborhood. It's rhythmic beats and story-filled lyrics provided healing for the enslaved people of the island. ![]() Meet sisters Mar and Mara Cruz who are dedicated to the. Puerto Rico's oldest music genre, bomba, has been taught at the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center in the city's Hermosa neighborhood since 1989.ĬHICAGO (WLS) - Hundreds of years ago the music of bomba emerged from Puerto Rico's colonial sugar cane plantations. Witness the unstoppable joy of dancing bomba, Puerto Rico's Afro-Puerto Rican dance of resistance.
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