Boricua Power

Where does power come from? Why does it sometimes disappear? How do groups, like the Puerto Rican community, become impoverished, lose social influence, and become marginal to the rest of society? How do they turn things around, increase their wealth, and become better able to successfully influence and defend themselves?Boricua Powerexplains the creation and loss of power as a product of human efforts to enter, keep or end relationships with others in an attempt to satisfy passions and interests, using a theoretical and historical case study of one communityPuerto Ricans in the United States. Using archival, historical and empirical data,Boricua Powerdemonstrates that power rose and fell for this community with fluctuations in the passions and interests that defined the relationship between Puerto Ricans and the larger U.S. society.

Jose Ramon Sanchez is Associate Professor of Political Science and Chair of Urban Studies at Long Island University, Brooklyn