Epistemic and ontological shifts in the making: (re)defining the episteme of Puerto Rico’s education at the turn of the twentieth century

ABSTRACT

At the turn of the twentieth century, conceptualizing the Puerto Rican child and the Puerto Rican citizen took on discourses of difference that were steeped in Progressive Era rationalities about eugenics that embodied normalized beliefs about “ability” and “fitness” traveling between the United States and Puerto Rico. These epistemic and ontological shifts in the making were not only about developing the intellectual strengths of Puerto Rican students; they were also about creating a particular “type” of student for US statehood. Discourses of race, intelligence, hygiene and morality were incorporated into the languaging of the Senate Bill 2254 Committee Hearings. These discourses of difference were also part of the rationale for enacting and marking difference under Puerto Rico’s new school laws. Moreover, these discursive formations circulating in Puerto Rican education and society created a set of principles of regulation and observation that was used to rationalize biological determinants for citizenship. Central to deciding Puerto Rico’s legal, political and educational future was the scrutiny of the moral, intellectual, racial, hygienic, economic and educational conditions of Puerto Rican students.

RÉSUMÉ

Au tournant du XXe siècle, la conceptualization de l’enfant portoricain et du citoyen portoricain a embrassé des discours sur la différence imprégnés des rationalités eugéniques de l’ère progressiste. Ces discours eugénistes incarnaient des croyances normalisées sur les capacités et la condition physique des Portoricains et sont devenus partie intégrante des discours éducatifs de Porto Rico pendant les premières années de la domination coloniale américaine. Ces changements épistémiques et ontologiques en cours ne visaient pas seulement à développer les forces intellectuelles des étudiants portoricains ; il s’agissait également de créer un type particulier d’étudiant préparé à la citoyenneté américaine. Les discours sur la race, l’intelligence, l’hygiène et la moralité ont été intégrés dans le langage des audiences du comité sénatorial du projet de loi 2254. Ces discours sur la différence font également partie des raisons pour lesquelles la différence a été promulguée et marquée dans les nouvelles lois scolaires de Porto Rico. De plus, ces formations discursives circulant dans l’éducation et la société portoricaines ont créé un ensemble de principes de régulation et d’observation qui ont été utilisés pour rationalizer les déterminants biologiques de la citoyenneté américaine. L’examen minutieux des conditions morales, intellectuelles, raciales, hygiéniques, économiques et éducatives des étudiants portoricains était essentiel pour décider de l’avenir juridique, politique et éducatif de Porto Rico.

RESUMEN

A principios del siglo XX, la conceptualización del niño puertorriqueño y del ciudadano puertorriqueño asumió discursos de diferencia que estaban impregnados de racionalidades de la era progresista sobre la eugenesia que encarnaban creencias normalizadas sobre la “capacidad” y la “aptitud” para viajar entre los Estados Unidos. Estados Unidos y Puerto Rico. Estos cambios epistémicos y ontológicos en ciernes no se referían sólo a desarrollar las fortalezas intelectuales de los estudiantes puertorriqueños; también trataban de crear un “tipo” particular de estudiante para la estadidad estadounidense. Los discursos sobre raza, inteligencia, higiene y moralidad se incorporaron al lenguaje de las audiencias del Comité del Proyecto de Ley 2254 del Senado. Estos discursos de diferencia también fueron parte de la justificación para promulgar y marcar la diferencia bajo las nuevas leyes escolares de Puerto Rico. Además, estas formaciones discursivas que circularon en la educación y la sociedad puertorriqueñas crearon un conjunto de principios de regulación y observación que se utilizaron para racionalizar los determinantes biológicos de la ciudadanía. Para decidir el futuro legal, político y educativo de Puerto Rico fue fundamental el escrutinio de las condiciones morales, intelectuales, raciales, higiénicas, económicas y educativas de los estudiantes puertorriqueños.

KEYWORDS:

• Colonialism
• Puerto Rico
• eugenics
• social epistemology
• discourse analysis

MOTS-CLÉS:

• Colonialisme
• Porto Rico
• eugénisme
• épistémologie sociale
• analyse du discours

PALABRAS CLAVES:

• Colonialismo
• Puerto Rico
• eugenesia
• epistemología social
• análisis del discurso

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The title “English Supervisor” was changed to, “Superintendent of Schools” between 1901 and 1902.

2. Puerto Rico (1901, 48–9).

3. Puerto Rico (1901, 50–1).

4. Puerto Rico (1902, 42–3).

5. Puerto Rico (1901, 48–9).

6. Puerto Rico (1901, 48–9).

7. Puerto Rico (1901, 50–1).

8. Puerto Rico (1902, 42–3).

9. In 1900, President William McKinley appointed Charles Herbert Allen as the first Civil Governor of Puerto Rico. Allen served in 1900–1901. In 1901, McKinley appointed William Henry Hunt as the second Civil Governor for Puerto Rico. Hunt was governor during 1901–1904.

10. “a new Board of Education was appointed on 7 January 1900. The Island was divided into six school districts and representatives were appointed from each district. District I, San Juan, was represented by Victor S. Clark, President; George B. Groff, José A. Saldaña, and R. H. Todd; District II, Fajardo, was represented by Jorge Bird y Arias; District III, Arroyo, by Enrique Huyke; District IV, Ponce, by Rosendo Matienzo Cintrón; District V, Mayagüez, by Bartolomé Esteva; and District VI, Arecibo, by J. Ruiz de Sagredo” (Osuna 1949, 133).

11. “For administrative purposed the Island of Puerto Rico is divided into political units known as municipalities. Each municipality consists generally of an urban center and an outlying rural territory, subdivided into wards or ‘barrios.’ The Island is divided into seventy-seven municipalities. For the purpose of supervision it is divided into school districts. During the first year of the American occupation it was divided into sixteen school districts, which number continued until 1902. At that time the number was increased to nineteen. In the academic year 1903–1904, the number was reduced to eighteen. Form 1904 to 1908 it continued to be divided into nineteen districts” (Osuna 1949, 147–8).

12. The title “English Supervisor” was changed to, “Superintendent of Schools” between 1901 and 1902.

13. “Edication [sic], on the Island, is not of a high order, a sort of Public School system prevails in some of the Towns and Cities, but in the interior reading and writing, except among plantation owners and managers, are rare. Spanish is the popular tongue, though the Natives of France, of whom there are quite a number, retain their language, and there are in Towns, some English speaking Negroes from, ‘St. Thomas’ and other near-by English Colonies, who proved useful as interpreters published in Ponce, prints one page in English, out of compliment to the new conditions, most of the matter, so published being extracts from the ‘Constitution’ of the United States and sketches of the lives of our distinguished Men” (Wescott and Calkins 1898, 2).

14. In 1902, Yauco, Puerto Rico, was numbered as School District No. 9; and in 1903 it was renumbered as School District No. 10.

15. “The latest estimate of the population of the Island, put it about 900.000, of which 140.000, were peninsulares or Natives of Spain, and from 12.000, to 14.000, foreigners, mostly Frenchmen, Italians, Germans, Englishmen, and Americans, other nationalities being very little represented” (Wescott and Calkins 1898, 5).

16. Charles W. Fairbanks served as the Chairman of the Committee on Immigration for the 55th United States Congress, which was from 4 March 1897 to 3 March 1899.

17. In 1898, the US Army collected similar demographic data in Puerto Rico: “The Native population was composed of two-thirds whites, decendants [sic] of Spaniards and other European Countries, and one-third negroes and mulattoes of people of mixed blood” (Wescott and Calkins 1898, 5).

18. Paul G. Miller continued to praise the natural abilities of Puerto Rican students in his 1902 report, but also subverted Spanish pedagogical methods: “The children of Porto Rico are naturally bright and willing to learn. There are few indeed who do not do well when properly treated and properly taught. The samples of work show that their progress has been very satisfactory considering the conditions under which they were taught” (Puerto Rico 1902, 90).

19. Upon vaccination, individuals received the following certificate, which was read aloud by Senator Gallinger (NH), “Mr. GALLINGER. I have been handed by Mr. Finlay a certificate which reads as follows: ‘United States certificate of vaccination. DEPARTMENT OF PUERTO RICO, SAN JUAN VACCINATION DIVISION, San Juan, P. R., 13 April 1899. It is hereby certified that_ _, of _, sex, _; age, _; color, _, has been duly vaccinated, in conformity with General Order No. 7 of the general commanding the Department of Puerto Rico, U.S.A., and the orders and regulations of the chief surgeon of the department, the director of this division, and the alcade of this jurisdiction, made in pursuance thereof. _ _, Public Vaccinator.’ This is the kind of certificate you issued? Major Ames: Yes, sir” (Foraker and U.S. Government 1900, 196).

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Notes on contributors

Bethsaida Nieves

Bethsaida Nieves obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In her Ph.D. dissertation, “Making of Race: Movements in the Colonialization and Production of Difference in Puerto Rico’s Education at the Turn of the Twentieth Century”, she examines the historical, scientific, philosophical and legal constructions of race, intelligence, morality and hygiene. Dr Nieves’ specialty is analyzing the systems of reason(ing) and the intersectionalities that produce knowledge, power and difference in education and society.