From Cafés to Conflagrations: Re/Mapping NuyoRico Beyond Los Barrios

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

The inherent exclusion of the Nuyorican citizen – a liminal identity suspended between the island and the mainland – “ni de aquí, ni allá” – provides playwrights and performers opportunities to dramatize the socio-political underpinnings of United States colonization. Distinct from other U.S.-Latino communities, Nuyoricans established a new designation and territory to cope with their exclusion. As Nuyorican Poets Café founder Miguel Algarín insists, Nuyorican “Spanish was different, their way of dress and look were different. They were a stateless people until the Café became their homeland.” This panel will examine geo-cultural boundaries associated with sexuality, race, and class in Nuyorican dramaturgy.

Sub Track

• Performance Studies

Chair

• Jason Ramirez, SUNY - Suffolk

Individual Presentations

• Nuyorican Aesthetics: The Pioneer Work of Miguel Piñero - Beatriz J Rizk, Miami-Dade College, Miami, FL

• Out of the Closet and Into the Kitchen: Negotiating Exclusion through dis/comfort food in plays by Janis Astor del Valle - Kimberly Ramirez, City University of New York

• Nuyorican Cartographies: Welcome to Boogie Rican Boulevard - Patricia Herrera, University of Richmond

• The Stage is on Fire: The Bronx is Burning in Firehouse and Happyland - Jason Ramirez, SUNY - Suffolk