As an inchoate middle class emerged in Puerto Rico in the early
nineteenth century, its members sought to control not only public
space, but also the people, activities, and even attitudes that
filled it. Their instruments were the San Juan town council and the
Casa de Beneficencia, a state-run charitable establishment charged
with responsibility for the poor.
In this book, Teresita Martinez-Vergne explores how municipal
officials and the Casa de Beneficencia shaped the discourse on
public and private space and thereby marginalized the worthy poor
and vagrants, "liberated" Africans, indigent and unruly women, and
destitute children. Drawing on extensive and innovative archival
research, she shows that the men who comprised the San Juan
ayuntamiento and the board of charity regulated the public
discourse on topics such as education, religious orthodoxy,
hygiene, and family life, thereby establishing norms for "correct"
social behavior and chastising the "deviant" lifestyles of the
working poor.
This research clarifies the ways in which San Juan's middle
class defined itself in the midst of rapid social and economic
change. It also offers new insights into notions of citizenship and
the process of nation-building in the Caribbean.
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