Puerto Rican Soldiers and Second-Class Citizenship: Representations in Media

238 Pages·2014·1.27 MB·English

by  Manuel G. Avilés-Santiago

Puerto Rican Soldiers and
Second-Class Citizenship
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Puerto Rican Soldiers and
Second-Class Citizenship
Representations in Media
Manuel G. Avilés-Santiago
puerto rican soldiers and second-class citizenship
Copyright © Manuel G. Avilés-Santiago, 2014
All rights reserved.
First published in 2014 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—
a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this
is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, regis-
tered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and
has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the
United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
E-ISBN: 978-1-137-45287-0
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data.
Avilés Santiago, Manuel Gerardo.
Puerto Rican soldiers and second-class citizenship : representations in
media / Manuel G. Avilés-Santiago.
pages cm
Based on the author’s dissertation (doctoral)—University of Texas, Austin.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-137-45718-9 (alk. paper)
1. Puerto Ricans in mass media. 2. Soldiers in mass media. 3. Mass media
and minorities—United States. 4. Puerto Ricans—United States—Social
conditions—20th century. 5. Puerto Ricans—United States—Ethnic
relations. I. Title.
P94.5.P842A95 2014
305.868’7295—dc23 2014022635
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by SPi Global.
First edition: November 2014
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dedicated to the young Puerto Rican soldier who went to France and never
came back, but left a song to be remembered; who sailed to Korea and never
came back, but left behind a letter to be remembered; who flew to Vietnam
and never came back, but left a photo album to be remembered; and the
young dreamer deployed to Iraq who never came back, but left behind a
digital diary to be remembered.
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Contents
List of Figures ix
Foreword xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1
1 Saving Pvt. Fulano de Tal: Representations
of Puerto Rican Soldiers in Television and Film 27
2 Digital Bodies at War: The Boricua Soldier
in Social Networking Sites 69
3 Broadcasting Puerto Ricanness: Mash-up Identities
in the User-Generated-Content Zone 103
4 Digital Epitaphs: Web Memorializing Puerto Rican
Soldiers in the Twenty-first Century 145
Conclusions 173
Notes 181
References 199
Index 217
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List of Figures
0.1 My uncle, Julio Avilés-Pérez, served in the Air Force during
the Vietnam War in the year 1968. He was a college student
when he was drafted. His experiences in the training camp
and, later on, in the battlefield, were captured in a collection
of photographs that he took during his tour 2
1.1 Héroes de Otra Patria is Puerto Rico’s own Vietnam War
drama. The film, directed by Ivan Dariel Oritz, follows two
Puerto Rican soldiers as they attempt to live through their
military service in the jungles of Vietnam. During their
experience, soldiers Carlos (Jorge Castillo) and Raul (Jimmy
Navarro) faced not only the battle against the Viet Cong,
but also an ideological battle about which patria (homeland)
they were serving 54
1.2 The film was made with a budget of $500,000 and was
filmed in Puerto Rico. Given the tropical weather conditions
of the island, it was a perfect location to recreate the jungles
of Vietnam 56
1.3 The Borinqueneers is a documentary produced by Noemi
Figueroa Soulet that captures the story of Puerto Rican service
members during the Korean War who are caught between the
obligation to fulfill their military duties and the instinct to
survive on a suicidal mission 61
3.1 Juan Carlos Cotto, also known as Nuro, composed more
than 20 songs while touring the Middle East. This picture
was taken during his first tour in Iraq in 2006 126