Jamie Rodriguez Matos 
University of New Hampshire
Major: Spanish/Music
Mentor: Lester A. Fisher - Professor of English
The Construction of a Nuyorican Identity in the Poetry of Tato Laviera
Identity has been in a state of constant instability throughout Puerto Rican history, due to Spanish and U.S. colonialism. The effects of the policies that the United States has imposed on the island have been numerous, among them an exodus that resulted in 2.5 million Puerto Ricans living in the United States, most in New York City. This study seeks to observe how a creative effort &endash; the poetry of Tato Laviera &endash; can construct and serve as a tool for understanding the identity of that group of people.
In determining Laviera's approach to assimilation I considered the solutions the poet presents regarding the issue of identity and the social implications of his philosophies. The processes that led to my conclusions were patient reading, analyzing and extracting of material from Laviera's complete poetical output, which consists of La Carreta Made a U-turn (1979), Enclave (1981), AmeRícan (1985), and Mainstream Ethics (1988). I also examined secondary sources such as the works of Juan Flores, René Marqués, Nicolas Kanellos, Ronald Takaki, Alexis De Tocqueville, José Luis González, and Virginia E. Sánchez Korrol.
My research indicates a sympathetic attitude towards cultural differences and a sense of self-acceptance on the part of the poetic personas reached through a process of conflict between opposing views and reflection upon the issues faced by Laviera's subjects.
