Boricua

Boricua a word of origin from Boriken (or Boriquén, Borinquen, or Borinquén) used by the original Taino Indian population to refer to Puerto Rico before the coming of the Spanish, which translated as "The Valiant People of the Sacred House". The word has come to identify any resident or descendent of Puerto Rico, who will use the term, "¡Yo soy Boricua!" ("I am Boricua") to identify themselves. The national anthem of Puerto Rico is called "La Borinqueña."

While widely embraced as a term of racial-ethnic identification by Puerto Ricans, living in the U.S., spread by independence groups like the Young Lords, it is a more controversial label among the middle and upper classes in Puerto Rico. The term Boricua, from this class-based point of view, has negative connotations as a lower class term and to some refers only to stateside Puerto Ricans. Stateside, it is warmly embraced as a term that evokes the deep Puerto Rican past and identity with the island's indigenous population although it should be noted that true boricuas are considered to be from Puerto RIco, not the States.

In more narrow terms, there has more recently developed a neo-Taino movement that rejects a Puerto Rican identity over that of a direct descendant of a Taino. Ironically, this neo-Taino movement has much of its origin in the Stateside Puerto Rican population and has migrated to Puerto Rico. This Taino identity is itself controversial both on the island and stateside because 1. of the dubious genetic basis of this identity that its adherents claim, and 2. it is seen by some as a way to reject European and African components of Puerto Rican identity and last but not least, the fact that the ethnic groups of Puerto Rico are white (mostly Spanish origin) 80.5%, black comprise 8%, Amerindian 0.4%, Asian 0.2%, mixed and other 10.9% [[1]]. A recent study of mtDNA from 800 individuals found 61.1% as having Amerindian maternal mtDNA, which revealed that the Amerindian population is larger than some would want you to believe.

References

• "Adiós, Borinquen querida": The Puerto Rican Diaspora, Its History, and Contributions, by Edna Acosta-Belen, et al. (Albany, NY: Center for Latino, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies, SUNY-Albany, 2000)
• Boricua Hawaiiana: Puerto Ricans of Hawaii --- Reflections of the Past and Mirrors of the Future, by Blase Camacho Souza (Honolulu: Puerto Rican Heritage Society of Hawaii, 1982)
• Boricua Literature: A Literary History of the Puerto Rican Diaspora, by Lisa Sénchez González (New York: New York University Press, 2001)
• Boricua Pop: Puerto Ricans and the Latinization of American Culture, by Frances Negrón-Muntaner (New York: New York University Press, 2004)
• Boricuas: Influential Puerto Rican Writings, by Roberto Santiago (New York: One World, 1995)
• Boricuas in Gotham: Puerto Ricans in the Making of Modern New York City, edited by Gabriel Haslip-Viera, Angelo Falcón and Félix Matos Rodríguez (Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2004)