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About:

Esmeralda Santiago is a Puerto Rican author known for her descriptions and translation of Puerto Rican identity.

Personal life:

Santiago was born on May 17, 1948 in the San Juan district of Villa Palmeras, Santurce, Puerto Rico. She was the eldest of eleven children and was raised by a single mother. Her family lived in the countryside and descended from poor, peasant famers. In 1961, at age 13, she moved to the United States. Santiago attended junior high school in Brooklyn and learned English in two years, then went on to attend New York City's prestigious Performing Arts High School. Upon graduating, Santiago attended community college and worked various jobs for eight years. After, she earned a full scholarship from Harvard where she transferred and received her undergraduate degree and continued on to Sarah Lawrence College for graduate school. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Sarah Lawrence College in 1976. Santiago met and married Frank Cantor prior to graduating. The couple founded CANTOMEDIA, a film and media production company, which has won numerous awards for excellence in documentaries. Santiago currently lives in Westchester County, New York with her husband. for 8 years she worked and attended community college then transferred to Harvard with a full scholarship

grad school at Sarah Lawrence college

New section: about her different pieces of literature

Conquistadora

Conquistadora, written in 2011, is Santiago's latest piece. It follows the main character, Ana, as she battles oppressive societal expectations of gender, class and race in 19th century Puerto Rico. Ana arrives in Puerto Rico at the age of 18 in search of power and money but instead faces the harsh realities of slavery on her own sugar plantation. She is forced to navigate a society in which morality and immorality exist cohesively.

In writing Conquistadora, Santiago researched and explored Puerto Rican history extensively. Puerto Rican records and literature did not include stories of women, the poor or enslaved peoples' narratives. Coming from a poor, rural family, Santiago did not have records of her families own history, and Conquistadora is an imagined example of what her history could have been. Santiago also touches on the devastating impact of slavery on the people of Puerto Rico, something often glanced over by popular literature as slavery in Puerto Rico was considered less severe than other nations.

 When I was Puerto Rican 

"When I was Puerto Rican" was written in 1993 and takes an autobiographical approach to Santiago's childhood. It details her life from early childhood and stops at her departure from Puerto Rico, or at age 13. She details growing up under imperialistic, American pressures and rule alongside her own Puerto Rican culture. Aspects like familial relationships, food and coming-of-age are highlighted throughout the piece.

Santiago wrote her piece "When I was Puerto Rican" after receiving her degree from Harvard and returning to Puerto Rico. She experienced cultural dissonance as many Puerto Ricans considered her too Americanized while Americans considered her too Puerto Rican. Her writing comes from the perspective of someone who experiences both Puerto Rican and American culture from an outside lense.

notes for this source:


 * autobiographical writing, coming of age in US but leaving PR at 13
 * Conquistadora is a different story than her usual
 * It's not about coming of age
 * women experiencing slavery in 19th century in PR
 * she did research, wanted to learn about her identity
 * her parents were impoverished and did not have any land to pass on, she's combating cyclical poverty
 * left no records of their history
 * couldn't find her own ancestors bc no records, so she made up her own
 * questioning gender norms and social constructs is a constant in her all her work so it is in her reimagined past too
 * her migration pattern is common to other Puerto Rican patterns
 * she has recognition from PR
 * the point of conquistadora is to illustrate the experiences of women who were not written into history because of the patriarchy
 * Ana represents unwritten history in Hacendada history
 * common notion that slavery was lesser in PR but conquistadora refutes this
 * starts with the spanish invasion of PR
 * she exhibits their desire for gold at the expense of being super brutal to the indigenous people
 * story takes place with ana as main character
 * 3 generations after her ancestors came to the island
 * ana dreams to escape the confines of her society and island
 * Ana has a loving and desire filled relationship outside of the covent and it is very much not allowed
 * slaves forced to work after their official freeing- showing that the rules were not followed
 * lacked many items that the government promised them