TY - JOUR
T1 - White, black, or Puerto Rican? Racial self-identification among mainland and island Puerto Ricans
AU - Landale, Nancy S.
AU - Oropesa, R. S.
N1 - Funding Information:
" The research reported in this article was supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, and the Centers for Disease Control. Support services were provided by the Population Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University. Direct correspondence to Nancy S. Landale, Population Research Institute, 601 Oswald Tower, University Park, PA 16802. E-mail: [email protected].
Copyright:
Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2002/9
Y1 - 2002/9
N2 - Recent studies have examined the implications of exposure to U.S. race relations for the racial and ethnic identities of migrants to the U.S. Most investigations are based exclusively on U.S. data. There are few, if any, comparisons of the identities of migrants and their offspring to those of nonmigrants in their country of origin. Using data from a survey of Puerto Rican mothers in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, this study provides such a comparison. Responses to an open-ended race question show that mainland and island Puerto Ricans most often designate their "race" as Puerto Rican, but responses of women who do not self-identify as Puerto Rican diverge between the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Island women primarily identify themselves as white, black, or trigueña, while mainland women identify themselves as Hispanic/Latina, Hispanic American, or American. Mainland-island differences cannot be explained by parental ethnicity, skin tone, demographic factors, and socioeconomic status. The findings suggest that mainland Puerto Ricans more strongly reject the conventional U.S. notion of race than do their island counterparts.
AB - Recent studies have examined the implications of exposure to U.S. race relations for the racial and ethnic identities of migrants to the U.S. Most investigations are based exclusively on U.S. data. There are few, if any, comparisons of the identities of migrants and their offspring to those of nonmigrants in their country of origin. Using data from a survey of Puerto Rican mothers in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, this study provides such a comparison. Responses to an open-ended race question show that mainland and island Puerto Ricans most often designate their "race" as Puerto Rican, but responses of women who do not self-identify as Puerto Rican diverge between the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Island women primarily identify themselves as white, black, or trigueña, while mainland women identify themselves as Hispanic/Latina, Hispanic American, or American. Mainland-island differences cannot be explained by parental ethnicity, skin tone, demographic factors, and socioeconomic status. The findings suggest that mainland Puerto Ricans more strongly reject the conventional U.S. notion of race than do their island counterparts.
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U2 - 10.1353/sof.2002.0052
DO - 10.1353/sof.2002.0052
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0036749991
SN - 0037-7732
VL - 81
SP - 231
EP - 254
JO - Social Forces
JF - Social Forces
IS - 1
ER -