30 August, 2010
Latin America in Crisis: An Expert Witness Responds
International, Opinion & Interviews Comments (0)
Comunicas.- Dr. Frances Negrón-Muntaner of Columbia University is a world-renowned scholar and filmmaker. She has been named as one of the nation’s “100 Most influential Latinos” by Hispanic Business. Born in Puerto Rico, her work spans several fields, including mass media, literature, cultural criticism, migration, and politics. Antony Adolf of Change.org had the opportunity to ask Dr. Negrón-Muntaner about her work in relation to pressing crises in Latin America and the U.S.
For her work as a scholar and filmmaker, Dr. Negrón-Muntaner has received Ford, Truman, Scripps Howard, Rockefeller, and Pew fellowships. Major foundations and public television funding sources have also supported her work. Since the late 1980s, Dr. Negrón-Muntaner’s work has been considered an important resource in addressing sexuality, colonialism, nationalism, and migration in Caribbean and Latino diasporic contexts.
Among her works is the 1994 award-winning film Brincando el Charco: Portrait of a Puerto Rican, the groundbreaking edited collection Puerto Rican Jam: Rethinking Colonialism and Nationalism (1997), and Boricua Pop (Choice Award 2004), a collection of essays on contemporary U.S. popular culture.
Antony Adolf: Your work addresses Caribbean and Latino diasporic colonialism, nationalism, migration and sexuality. Could you tell us about high points and low points in your experience in these fields?
Dr. Negrón-Muntaner: Throughout my public life, I have had quite a few run-ins with dominant thinking on both the left and right. For instance, in 1997 I co-wrote a political reflection signed by a six other academics and artists that argued that statehood could be a decolonizing option for Puerto Rico. This virtually made me an outcast in many cultural and intellectual circles for years. Among other things, I was accused of being a CIA agent. Most recently, when I wrote and criticized the unlawful detention of Jose Padilla as an enemy combatant, I faced not only incredulous stares from audiences but also at least one prominent journal rejecting my thoughts on the topic.
The fact that people who know better would resort to slander and/or censorship made me realize how easy it is for a community to turn against its own. This and other similar experiences also allowed me to see that intellectuals are no more enlightened than other people when they felt threatened. So, like Kermit the frog, I learned to be comfortable with being green.
Antony Adolf: What do you believe the future has in store for U.S.-Puerto Rican relations, and the future of Puerto Ricans in the U.S. within immigrant rights contexts? What is your report “from the ground,” so to speak, as well as from within the academy?
Dr. Negrón-Muntaner: Puerto Rico is in the worst shape that I have seen it in my lifetime. One of the most telling signs of the crisis is that people, particularly among the young and educated, are leaving the island in great numbers. Demographers are already predicting that the 2010 census will reveal that the island experienced a decline in population since 2000 and that approximately 270,000 people have left Puerto Rico over the last decade.
Linked to this decrease in population is a sense of hopelessness that I have also never felt so strongly before. There is a saying that hope is the last thing to go and I am afraid that it is gone for many Puerto Ricans. In contrast to earlier migrations, where people returned during their retirement, people today are leaving never to return. People simply don’t see a way out of what feels like a perpetual crisis.
When it comes to Puerto Rican politics, however, it is quite a risky proposition to predict outcomes. Puerto Rican voters are world famous for upsetting expectations. For instance, despite the fact that most Puerto Ricans would consider themselves cultural nationalists, in 1991 voters rejected the idea of amending the Puerto Rican constitution to protect Puerto Rico's culture and continued independent participation in international sports. The majority of voters surprisingly voted against the amendment because they felt it could be an obstacle to statehood. Yet, seven years later, a majority of voters rejected all presumably possible status options, including statehood, to determine Puerto Rico’s future relationship to the United States. To Washington’s amazement, Puerto Ricans chose the so-called fifth column, “none of the above.”
So, the only thing that I could say is that if you look at trends since the 1940s, the only status option that grows in support, albeit slowly, is statehood. If the situation continues to deteriorate -- pushing Puerto Rico closer to becoming a narco-state -- and new migration experience produces a stronger sense of belonging to the U.S. than prior ones, it may be that the statehood trend will become a movement rather than an electoral franchise. But, you may not want to bet money on it. Many people feel so disappointed in politics that it may be the last place that they look to for solutions.
Antony Adolf: What, in your opinion, can realistically be done about narco-trafficking in Latin America?
Dr. Negrón-Muntaner: Due to the great complexity of the human relationship to narcotics -- the fact that for some they produce pleasure and a sense of freedom -- there will probably never be a perfect set of policies to address drug consumption and production. At the same time, there are a number of things that Latin American states can consider to address the narco-trafficking crisis.
Decriminalize consumption; facilitate access to medical and other support services; an persuade the U.S. to do the same. Almost any substance can become addictive and many legal substances are as addictive, if not more, than some illegal ones. In this regard, distinguishing substances as legal or illegal is arbitrary and not a very useful basis for policy-making. And while I do not think that addicted drug consumers should be forcefully medicalized, for those who wish to control or stop their addiction, access to mental health, social, and medical services will be more enabling than prison time.
Regulate the drug trade and enact comprehensive socio-economic reform. The illegal means and ways of narco-trafficking fuels much of the violence associated with the drug trade as it creates alliances between drug, paramilitary, and corrupt state organizations as well as offers a rationale for Latin American governments to militarize their societies and occupy communities. Moreover, decriminalization of the drug trade will likely make the trade less attractive as it would bring profits down and free people to pursue other options.
Yet, in taking steps towards regulating rather than criminalizing the drug trade, it is important to know that regulation will not eliminate all so-called organized crime groups. These groups will probably gravitate toward other products producing new forms of violence. This is one of the main reasons why states moving toward regulation will also need to consider policies that decrease economic inequality and social exclusion. Otherwise, many of the foot-soldiers that that are displaced by the drug trade and do not have other options, will sign up for the next big exploit.
Antony Adolf: How does the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) you helped found work with other groups with similar goals to advance common issues in the U.S. and Latin America? And globally?
Dr. Negrón-Muntaner: The NALIP was founded in 1999 to address the still persistent discrimination faced by Latinos in the U.S. media industries and create opportunities for Latino media producers. Just to give a sense of why people felt a need for this organization, we can consider a stunning fact: Despite the dramatic increase in the U.S. Latino population in the U.S. since the 1970s, per capita, there are as many – and sometimes less --the number of Latinos working in the industry today thanis the same as four decades ago.
Given the bleak picture, the original impulse was to create an organization that focused on the U.S. But since its founding, NALIP chapters have sprung in several other countries, including Canada, Spain, Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. In every context, NALIP has worked with the chapters to addressstrengthen local needs of artistic development and connect people to build communities capable of surmountingso they can prevail over common problems such as lack of resources, infrastructure, and information.
At this time, I think NALIP is one of the most effective organizations serving independent producers of any background because it has been successful in buildingcreating the most important thing to any media artist: a passionate creative community what loves art and loves to see people succeed. This drive is so strong that if I was ever in any kind of jam in a city where I did not know anyone, the one phone number that I would like to have in my pocket is that of a local NALIP member. I am sure that s/he will get me out of it.
Antony Adolf: How has your academic background in sociology, anthropology and comparative literary studies shaped the choice and methods of execution of the projects you carry out as a filmmaker and scholar? What would you say to aspiring professionals in these regards?
Dr. Negrón-Muntaner: My multi-disclipinarity comes in part from my colonial upbringing. When you are trying to look into questions that are often ignored, dismissed or neglected by mainstream thinking, you become omnivorous. Disciplinary boundaries are not very important. You are hungry for anything useful and you will devour it when you find it. Also, when you look at things from what some have called the colonial divide, you tend to see through the seams of authority, including academic authority. So, you may attempt to address the limitations of one discipline with the insights of another.
Perhaps the biggest impact of this on how I approach my work is that I tend to immediately place texts in various contexts and bring together materials that are rarely linked together. I do not do this “on purpose” like the classic surrealists did. Rather, it is something that happens because having made it a habit to cross intellectual lines, I follow the trail to wherever it leads, irrespective of medium, discipline, and consequence -- which is something that I would recommend to anyone starting out.
Dr. Negrón-Muntaner has also served as a columnist for El Diario/La Prensa (New York), The San Juan Star, and El Mundo. She has been widely interviewed in print, radio, and on television in such venues as NPR, CNN, Univisión, Variety, and The Miami Herald. At present, Dr. Negrón-Muntaner teaches at Columbia University’s Department of English and Comparative Literature and at the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race. She holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Puerto Rico (1986), a master’s degree in film and anthropology at Temple University, Philadelphia (1991, 1994), and a PhD in Comparative Literature from Rutgers University, New Brunswick (2000).
By Antony Adolf / Via Change