Identity, Power & Place @ The Margins	.
Wanda I. Mills	Author Info

Abstract

Introduction

At first glance, the San Anton barrio (neighborhood) appeared "backward." It's humble, wooden houses looked as if they were a relic from the past, when contrasted with the modern, middle-class suburban homes in Constancia. The two residential communities exist side-by-side along the fringes in urban Ponce, Puerto Rico. As a child, I frequented my aunt's home at Constancia, and made note of the obvious disparities between the two locales. Constancia was unquestionably a modern manifestation; while San Anton steadfastly clung to its traditions.

The decade of the 1950's introduced a period of economic transformation, and the emergence of the Puertorican middle class. The era was characterized by the transition from agricultural capitalism to the Keynesian influenced policies of industrial capitalism. Immediately following World War II, Federal domestic initiatives encouraged the growth of industries, highways and development infrastructure, mass produced single family homes and urban sprawl in Puerto Rico. The rapid absorption of rural agricultural lands, that once encircled San Anton, left behind a skeleton of the community that was.

Like the anonymous urban planner in Patrick Chamoiseau's novel, "Texaco (1997)," I admittedly entered the antiquated neighborhood with my own professional biases and notions of salvation. My mission as a graduate student in urban planning (at the University of Puerto Rico) was to collect detailed data on the community of San Anton and its population, and to propose informed intervention strategies. As required by the fifteen week course on urban structural analysis, our project team eventually produced a standard neighborhood intervention study that included collected data, defined maps and drawings, data analysis, data evaluation, proposed options and final recommendations (May 1993).

The following observations suggest that alternative forms of inquiry are necessary which adequately incorporate the concerns of "silenced voices." The term "silenced voices" is defined as belonging to marginal, culturally diverse populations whose manner of communication is not fully recognized as being "legitimate" in scientific inquiry. This view transcends needs analysis and participatory approaches, and calls for methods that facilitate the interpretation of memory, oral traditions and meaning---both verbal and non-verbal---within planning practice.

The "Barrio" Called San Anton

Often referred to as the "barrio de los esclavos libertos/barrio of the freed slaves," San Anton houses the remaining progeny of the largest concentration of freed blacks in Southern Puerto Rico. Surnames such as Roque, Franceschi, Tricoche, Arce and Oppenheimer link the predominately black residents to the 19th century European and Creole "hacendados/estate owners." Located in close proximity to fields and three central sugar factories, the proletarian community arose from the marginal flood plain lands, along the banks of the temperamental Portugues River. When the enslaved peoples received their freedom in 1873, the former masters passed on land rights to some residents; while others migrated to San Anton from nearby municipalities and distant Caribbean islands. The following tribute expounds on everyday life activities within the barrio:

Besides its working class contributions, the San Anton barrio was also recognized as a creative hub for Puertorican popular culture. Like the African-American community of Pleasant Hills in Macon Georgia (made famous by its rock and roll pioneers such as Otis Redding, Little Richard, and James Brown), the San Anton community is recognized nationally, and internationally, for its contributions to the development of the Puertorican popular music forms, such as the "Bomba y Plena." Over the years, the community also offered up a disproportionate number of accomplished artists, athletes and popular hero(ine)s. By the early 1960's, however, pivotal political decisions gave way to a massive "development" program, which encouraged the disintegration of the larger San Anton barrio and produced a decline in its cultural production. Most of the residents were displaced to newly constructed housing projects, while others migrated north to the San Juan Metropolitan center or to New York City.

My Encounter with San Anton

Resembling tourists (and urban planners), our project team ventured through the remnants of the San Anton neighborhood and took snapshots of the blight: the delapidated wooden houses shielded with scraps of galvanized sheeting, the crooked alleys, the abandoned open spaces, the stagnant water, the children playing and the mature trees. I was appalled. An inquiring resident, with questioning and suspicious eyes, stopped us in our tracks, and asked the obvious question: "Oye, me puedes decir que hacen aqui/Listen, could you tell me what you are doing here?" No sooner than we initiated the study, we realized that we ventured into an reality that was much larger than ourselves!

By 1992, the area's zoning changed from medium density residential zoning (R-3), to the category of Desarrollo Conceptual/Area en Redesarollo (Conceptual Development/ Redevelopment Area). This change implied a shift from medium density residential (no retail businesses) to an open category that allowed for commercial, industrial, residential or combined land uses. A connector road was scheduled to pass through the community, in order to connect the regional highway network to nearby vacant lands.

My own field notes suggested the following: "It is obvious that time and development have placed the residents of San Anton in a position of no return. Regional infrastructural expansion, the potential increase in area property values, the community's proximity to the central business district and major transportation routes, the area's mature landscape, and relatively undeveloped lands are sure to encourage speculation and future commercial development (Mills and Gaetan 1993: 30)."

The Urban Agenda

At the time, the city of Ponce was undergoing a massive revitalization program, known as "Ponce en Marcha." The "Ponce en Marcha" plan sought to recuperate the Ponce's urban center, and restore the architectural qualities of the city's golden age. This period took place during the 19th and early 20th centuries, and was actualized through the successes in the regional agricultural economy. The program encompassed the historic zone, transportation routes, tourism and improvements to the urban infrastructure. The city also targeted several low-income communities for revitalization. Reconstruction was already under way in the popular neighborhoods of Arenas de Betances, located near the Ponce urban center, and another, 25 de Enero, dedicated to the memory of heroic firemen.

Although, the San Anton neighborhood was also programmed for revitalization, the question of legitimacy arose.2 Should San Anton be considered as part of Ponce's historic district? Did the community have historic merit? Did the site warrant restoration? Where the settlement patterns worthy of preservation? It was hardly conceivable, that the "barrio's" archive of traditions, folklore and memories could be of much significance.

Often, the conventional trajectory of planning apparatus' is to replace archaic traditions and irrationalities with rational new ones. By modifying existing human and social structures, the conditions for capitalist production and reproduction are generated (Escobar 1997: 135). The City of Ponce's popularly supported agenda was no different. "The municipal government proposed to align (understood to mean urbanize) the existing (San Anton) residential structures, while maintaining the typology of "how San Anton appeared in the days of yesteryear (Trans. by Wanda Mills; Ortiz 1994, 12)." By allotting individual parcels, the Office of Housing and Community Development reasoned that San Anton would become more efficient and modernized.

Arguably, policy makers claimed that this position transcended the aesthetic, and espoused "sanitary conditions" that discouraged overcrowding among San Anton residents. In reality, this view implied reorganizing San Anton's spatial patterns to suit the administrative interests of the municipal government. Ultimately, the leadership was less concerned about the tangible and invisible spatial characteristics of the barrio that encouraged security, social contact, relationships and the perpetuation of local understandings among residents.

One dissenting urban planner asserted that: "It is certain that the San Anton barrio is one of the poorest communities in Ponce, and that it is at an advanced state of physical degradation. However, one cannot overlook the need to conserve the neighborhood's social and urban characteristics. San Anton's 'organic' development patterns have contributed significantly the community's quality of life which is conserved to this day, and which contemporary urban developments are oftentimes unable to achieve (Trans. by Wanda Mills; Urbain 1993)." The fact that development often encourages large areas of poverty, stagnation, marginality and actual exclusion from social and economic progress is too obvious and urgent to be overlooked. Yet, it is also critical that efforts to improve socio-economic interests do not deplete the capacity of residents to act meaningfully in and on the larger society.

Resident Voices

San Anton resident and school teacher, Maria Banche, describes San Anton's spatial and social traditions by confirming that every family yard has its own particular characteristics, and way of life, which have developed over the years and that these understandings bypass the findings any sociological report. "San Anton consists of patios (yards), where families sustain a tightly knit (social) structure, very strong and if these ties are broken, the essence of the barrio will be destroyed...All live in the same location and they know each other, but they respect the privacy of each yard and know their boundaries, in which every object has its meaning, their ancestors coexist with them, and the land has a very special significance. If you remove a person from their property, you are taking them away from their origins, their ancestors and thus aligning the properties will cause problems. Most architects don't understand this (Transl. By Wanda Mills; Ortiz 1994: 13)."

In Grundrisse(1973), Karl Marx suggests that: "The condition under which the [capital] relation appears at the origin, or which appear as the historic presuppositions of its becoming, reveal at first glance a two sided character---on one side, dissolution of lower forms of living labor; on the other, dissolution of happier forms of the same. San Anton elder, Librada Roque Tricoche, recalls the happier, utopian years of "long ago" with her many lively stories: "the neighborhood was poor, but we didn't dwell or even understand our poverty. There were many talented people in San Anton. We were too busy enjoying life, and each other. Social events, and festivities, were reserved for Saturdays, and centered on sports, food and music. [The "bomba y plena" music forms employed rhythm, melody and dance with texts that record the joys, sorrows and interpretations of everyday happenings. Both were performed to celebrate the sugar harvest, baptisms, weddings, wakes, leisure time and communication.] Dances were held outdoors in the evenings, and the musicians beat their drums until the wee hours. Dancers of all ages took part in the celebrations. Adults encouraged excellence among the young by coaching them in sports, including baseball, basketball, track, table games and the like. The women cooked "up a storm" of delicacies, including frituras, arroz con gandules, pasteles and sweets for all to enjoy. Everyone was family (Trans. by Wanda Mills; Mills: 1993)."

The colloquial saying, "mi ombligo esta sembrado aqui, en estas tierras/my navel cord is buried here, on these lands," reflects a common sentiment among San Anton residents regarding their attachment to land, and place. Communities, such as San Anton, offer significant insights on the creative efforts that facilitate survival. To reduce life at the margins to simple conditions of misery is to overlook the rich traditions, historical achievements, lifestyles and value differences. Historically, the residents of San Anton produced a common environment that allowed them to live on their own terms. Noticeably, the community's being extends beyond stories of physical deterioration, to vivid examples of agency, social stability and evolution. A most intricate rationale underpins their "simple" way of life.

Conclusions

American author, Toni Morrison, captures a similar spirit in her novel, "Paradise (1998)." The paradisiacal town of Ruby, Oklahoma was founded by a group of emancipated slaves on the principles of self-sufficiency, pride and mutual support. It was a place where no one went hungry. There was unthinking generosity of community members. Young women carelessly took strolls late at night without the least worry. Deviance and misbehavior were dealt with firmly, but compassionately. Morrison contrasts this utopia with the conflicts inflicted on Ruby by the modernization era following World War II. It is then that town's founder, Ruby Morgan, symbolically dies. By the 1960's, the town's philosophy of self-help and autonomy began to show signs of wear. "The 60's have penetrated into the hinterland, even to Ruby. The young people have started to challenge the anachronistic worldview of their elders...The older people cannot understand. (Allen 1998: 6)."

Five years after my initial encounter with San Anton, the barrio is witnessing a renaissance. The elders have been displaced by the passion of the young. In recent months, approximately forty San Anton households moved into their homes. A music video by local recording star, Ednita Nazario, was filmed against the backdrop of the renewed community. Property issues have been resolved. New water lines have been installed. Street lighting, sidewalks and cul-de-sac layouts are now an integral part of the neighborhood form. Many residents are now acquainted with monthly mortgage loan payments.3 I am still struggling to explain the insightful breaths that I took, and the rapid transformations that have taken place since my initial study in 1993. Selfishly, I slip past the new to assure myself of what was. Yes, a few intimate, memory filled houses dot the horizon. For how long? I don't know.

Anthropologist Arturo Escobar submits that the planning discipline ensures the functioning of power that relies on, and helps to produce a type of reality which is certainly not that of the peasants, while peasant cultures and struggles are ventured invisible (Sachs 1995: 139). This paper suggests that unless the "voices" and insights of marginal populations are recognized, development program will continue to flounder and generate opposition. The ambiguity of human relations, evolution and transformation calls for a process that requires the understanding the everyday relationships that are inspired by human interaction and common sense. The pivotal questions are the following: how can urban planners tap into the roots of popular creativity in order to facilitate human liberation and empowerment? How can urban planners encourage people to exercise their intelligence and collective wisdom in an era when the welfare state is rapidly becoming a relic of the past?

Bibliography

Chamoiseau, Patrick. Texaco. New York: Pantheon Books, 1997.

Dufrasne Gonzalez, J. Emanuel. "La Bomba: de Ponce y de todos los Puertorriquenos," El Nuevo Dia, 27 August 1991, 75.

Escobar, Arturo. The Development Dictionary: A Guide to Knowledge as Power. Edited by Wolfgang Sachs. New Jersey: Zed Books, 1995.

Esteva, Gustavo. The Development Dictionary: A Guide to Knowledge as Power. Edited by Wolgang Sachs. New Jersey. Zed Books, 1995.

Fiestas de la Cruz, 1988.

Marx, Karl. Grundrisse. New York: Vintage Books, 1973.

Maldonado, Antolin. "Un Siglo de Anoranzas y Recuerdos," El Nuevo Dia, 3 October 1996: 82.

Mazrui, Ali. Lecture at the VI IASTE Conference, Identity, Tradition and the Built Form. 1995.

Mills, Wanda I. & Rosario Gaetan. The Revitalization of Historic San Anton: A Preservation Study. San Juan: The University of Puerto Rico, Graduate School of Planning, 1993.

Mills, Wanda. Perfil Sobre El Barrio de San Anton - Ponce, Puerto Rico. Personal Papers.

___________. Interview with Librada Roque Tricoche, 3 March 1993.

Morrison, Toni. Paradise. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998.

Ortiz, Jocelyn M. "Municipio de Ponce Detalla Plan de Revitalization," La Perla del Sur, 18-24 May 1994, 12.

Ortiz, Jocelyn M. "Una Residente Habla," La Perla del Sur, 18-24 May 1994, 12.

Urbain, Patrick. Comentarios a la Propuesta de Desarrollo Para la Comunidad Barrio San Anton. Ponce Municipal Planning Office.

Footnotes

2 Land ownership conflicts are also cited.

3 Historic zone improvements to the downtown district, consisting of exterior improvement to painting and minor improvements, were completed without cost to the owners.

Wanda I. Mills
Department of Urban Planning, Rutgers University