Proposition of Radical Statehood in Puerto Rico in the U.S.Tradition of Political Ideas

2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 14520085
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Politics
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: SHIGAKI Mithuhiro Tohoku University, Graduate School of International Cultural Studies, Professor, 大学院・国際文化研究科, 教授 (60215960)
• Project Period (FY): 2002 – 2004
• Keywords: Puerto Rico / U.S. / statehood

Research Abstract

The purpose of this research was to answer the following question, "how should we understand the state, ethnic groups, and nation? To answer this question, analyzed a proposition of "Radical Statehood" for Puerto Rico, made by some Puerto Rican intellectuals in early 1990s. My concern was on how the United States and Puerto Rico were perceived by them as political entities. As a part of the research I made interviews with some of the proposers.
Discussions on the state, ethnic groups, and nation, so far, have been with a critical flaw In those discussons, two different things have not been clearly differentiate ; a status, often imagined of human beings as a member of historical communities like "nation" or "ethno-racial groups", on the one hand, and a "citizen" in the sense of right holder in a sovereign state, on the other. The above-mentioned Puerto Rican intellectuals say, "We don't want to be Americans in any sense, but we insist that we should be fully endowed with every right and obligation as a 100% U.S.citizen."
Their arguments tell us that to realize a society where people are treated fairly in its true sense should transcend any differenciation based on those attributes like "language spoken", "ethnicity", "race", "gender", "class", or "educational background."