Dutchirican : a Latinx History of Central Pennsylvania Developed by Dr. Ivette Guzmán-Zavala and Dr. John Hinshaw November 15, 2019 - October 19, 2020 THE CUATRO: a history and performance, with Dr. Noraliz Ruiz and cuatrista Maribel Delgado September 26, 2020, 5pm Virtual exhibition tour webinar with Q&A March 28, 2020, 1pm |
Developed by Dr. John Hinshaw and Dr. Ivette Guzmán-Zavala, this project incorporates photography and public history to tell the story of Latinx communities and their roots in Central Pennsylvania, tracing contributions of Spanish-speakers to Pennsylvania from the American Revolution and Civil War to the present.
Historic photographs are displayed from Frank Espada’s work on the Puerto Rican diaspora in the 1970s. Also on exhibit are contemporary photographs from Lackawanna County by Rolfe Ross and from Lebanon County by Dr. Guzman-Zavala. Street Road worked with Guzmán-Zavala and Hinshaw to bring this exhibition – previously shown at Lebanon Valley College – to Southern Chester County, Pennsylvania, both to offer opportunities for a wider audience to see this work, and to create a forum in which our local community might help contribute to and extend this important research. |
A tour of the exhibition
Visit the exhibition virtually, with Drs. Guzmán-Zavala and Hinshaw as your guides:
Visit the exhibition virtually, with Drs. Guzmán-Zavala and Hinshaw as your guides:
Full exhibition tour webinar, with Q&A
this recording includes the virtual tour above, as well as a discussion and Q&A with webinar attendees. (Note that you may want to start watching at 23 minutes in, if you have watched the tour above.)
this recording includes the virtual tour above, as well as a discussion and Q&A with webinar attendees. (Note that you may want to start watching at 23 minutes in, if you have watched the tour above.)
At the end of the webinar we close out with a décima: this Puerto Rican form originates from medieval Spanish ballads and is composed of four stanzas of ten lines each. This type of song is traditional of jíbaro music, which might describe the beauty of the island’s landscape, among other possible themes. Lyrics, full details, and video below.
Related event – The Cuatro, a history and performance, with cuatrista Maribel Delgado and ethnomusicologist Dr. Noraliz Ruiz
September 26th, 2020
In connection with the exhibition, we held this evening of performance, with the participation of Dr. Ivette Guzmán-Zavala and Dr. John Hinshaw, and audience Q&A. Opening with a bit of music from Balún, playing NPR's Tiny Desk Conference, with Dr. Ruiz on cuatro.
September 26th, 2020
In connection with the exhibition, we held this evening of performance, with the participation of Dr. Ivette Guzmán-Zavala and Dr. John Hinshaw, and audience Q&A. Opening with a bit of music from Balún, playing NPR's Tiny Desk Conference, with Dr. Ruiz on cuatro.
The cuatro is an instrument that has played an integral role in shaping the cultural identity of Puerto Rico. From the first waves of Puerto Rican migration to the United States early in the twentieth century, the cuatro has evolved, developed and transformed in the hands of cuatro players away from the island. Currently, with more Puerto Ricans living in mainland US than on the island, the stateside population keeps creating, innovating and showcasing the cuatro in major events and festivals. We look forward to sharing some of this remarkable history and music with you in this online session with Dr. Noraliz Ruiz, cuatrista Maribel Delgado, and and exhibition organizers John Hinshaw and Ivette Guzmán-Zavala.
Noraliz Ruiz holds a PhD in Ethnomusicology-Musicology from Kent State University.Her research focuses on the Puerto Rican lutes: cuatro, tiple and bordonúa; particularly in the continuity and change of the instruments’ tradition and performance practice. She has also conducted research about underground music scenes in Puerto Rico and the production of indie pop, electronic and new music on the island.
Noraliz has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in the popular music program of the Inter American University of Puerto Rico. She is a member of the electronic indie band Balún and has performed in music festivals in the US, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Earlier this year, Balún was featured on NPR Tiny Desk, where Noraliz can be seen playing the cuatro. She is also a co-founder of the children’s music group Acopladitos.
Maribel Delgado is a professional cuatro player and a music educator devoted to teaching the instrument. Inspired by her grandfather, she first started cuatro lessons at age 9. She con-tinued playing the instrument during her teenage years, and won several cuatro competitions in Puerto Rico. She has performed locally and internationally with prominent figures of Puerto Rican folk music. She has been a cuatro soloist with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra and the Central Ohio Symphony performing “Paisajes,” a piece for cuatro and orchestra composed by Sonia Morales.
Maribel earned a bachelor’s degree in Music from the Inter American University of Puerto Rico. In the year 2008, she founded the online teaching platform cuatristas.com and has taught the instrument to students around the world. Committed to the education of young learners and to preservation of the instrument, she also teaches the cuatro at Escuela Libre de Música Ernesto Ramos Antonini in San Juan, a high school specialized in music education that has trained some of Puerto Rico’s finest musicians. In 2003 she released her debut album “El cuatro en manos de una mujer,” followed by “A solas con mi cuatro" in 2005, and is currently working on another album.
Noraliz Ruiz holds a PhD in Ethnomusicology-Musicology from Kent State University.Her research focuses on the Puerto Rican lutes: cuatro, tiple and bordonúa; particularly in the continuity and change of the instruments’ tradition and performance practice. She has also conducted research about underground music scenes in Puerto Rico and the production of indie pop, electronic and new music on the island.
Noraliz has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in the popular music program of the Inter American University of Puerto Rico. She is a member of the electronic indie band Balún and has performed in music festivals in the US, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Earlier this year, Balún was featured on NPR Tiny Desk, where Noraliz can be seen playing the cuatro. She is also a co-founder of the children’s music group Acopladitos.
Maribel Delgado is a professional cuatro player and a music educator devoted to teaching the instrument. Inspired by her grandfather, she first started cuatro lessons at age 9. She con-tinued playing the instrument during her teenage years, and won several cuatro competitions in Puerto Rico. She has performed locally and internationally with prominent figures of Puerto Rican folk music. She has been a cuatro soloist with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra and the Central Ohio Symphony performing “Paisajes,” a piece for cuatro and orchestra composed by Sonia Morales.
Maribel earned a bachelor’s degree in Music from the Inter American University of Puerto Rico. In the year 2008, she founded the online teaching platform cuatristas.com and has taught the instrument to students around the world. Committed to the education of young learners and to preservation of the instrument, she also teaches the cuatro at Escuela Libre de Música Ernesto Ramos Antonini in San Juan, a high school specialized in music education that has trained some of Puerto Rico’s finest musicians. In 2003 she released her debut album “El cuatro en manos de una mujer,” followed by “A solas con mi cuatro" in 2005, and is currently working on another album.
Dutchirican décima Iglesia Menonita del Buen Pastor
Décima del pastor menonita y cantautor Juan M. González, de la Iglesia Menonita del Buen Pastor en Lancaster, PA. Para la apertura de la exhibición Dutchirican en Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, 2017.
Décima by Mennonite pastor and singer-songwriter Juan M González from the Iglesia Menonita del Buen Pastor in Lancaster, PA. Written for the Dutchirican exhibition opening in Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, 2017.
Recorded at Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, 3/3/2017
In this example, the Mennonite pastor Juan M. González from Iglesia El Buen Pastor in Lancaster, PA adapts its form and adds one extra stanza to narrate the trajectory of the first Puerto Rican rural workers who came to Pennsylvania and established the Dutchirican community.
LYRICS:
Décima by Mennonite pastor and singer-songwriter Juan M González from the Iglesia Menonita del Buen Pastor in Lancaster, PA. Written for the Dutchirican exhibition opening in Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, 2017.
Recorded at Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, 3/3/2017
In this example, the Mennonite pastor Juan M. González from Iglesia El Buen Pastor in Lancaster, PA adapts its form and adds one extra stanza to narrate the trajectory of the first Puerto Rican rural workers who came to Pennsylvania and established the Dutchirican community.
LYRICS:
Sucedió en el siglo veinte
It happened in the 20th century de Puerto Rico llegaron they arrived from Puerto Rico En Lancaster se instalaron they established themselves in Lancaster gente de habla diferente people of different languages trabajaban diligente who laboriously did el trabajo campesino the farmer’s work a contarles yo me inclino I am inclined to tell you dándole a Dios la Gloria giving Glory to God les quiero contar la historia I want to tell you the story de la llegada del latino. of the arrival of the Latino. No salió para la Ucrania He did not leave for the Ucraine el boricua que llegó the boricua who arrived de inmediato se apegó immediately got attached a Lancaster Pennsylvania. to Lancaster Pennsylvania. De Inglaterra y de Alemania From England and Germany aquí encontró el ladino here he found the ladin empezó a abrirse camino and started to open his way entre gente diferente among different people se entregó al Dios viviente surrendered to a living God aquél humilde latino. that humble Latino. |
Encontró otra cultura
He found another culture un lenguaje diferente a different language de piel blanca era la gente among people of white skin alta de gran estatura who were tall y comenzó la aventura and the adventure started en mi cantar lo defino in my song I define it fue forjando su destino he was forging his destiny luego trajo a su familia then brought his family along en Lancaster domicilia in Lancaster resides la descendencia del latino. the descendants of the Latino. Dutchirican hoy le llaman Today they are called Dutchiricans a los que aquí han nacido those that have been born here obstáculos han vencido they have defeated obstacles y a esta tierra ellos aman and they love this land. Sus oraciones derraman Their prayers outpour ante el creador divino before the divine creator el boricua peregrino the pilgrim boricua que llegó para quedarse arrived to stay porque no vino a estancarse because he did not come to standstill y Dios bendijo al latino. and God blessed the Latino. |
El jíbaro borinqueño
The Puerto Rican jíbaro que abandonó su campiña who abandoned his plain el gran sembrado de piña the great pinneaple field por este suelo norteño for this northern soil. Pues él realizó su sueño Well he realized his dream porque a superarse vino because he came to better himself su historia ahora termino his story I now finish Dios lo sacó de la sierra God took him out of the mountains trayéndolo a esta tierra bringing him to this land aquí estableció al latino. here He established the Latino. |
Further research materials
Copies of books listed here are available at Street Road throughout the course of the exhibition. Many are available permanently in the lending section of Street Road's Little Free Library 19330.
Suggested viewing
Dutchirican: A Latin@ History of Central Pennsylvania
A presentation to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania by Ivette Guzmán-Zavala and John Hinshaw, May 10, 2017
A selection of articles by Guzmán-Zavala and Hinshaw
Guzmán-Zavala, I. (2015, October 8). Puerto Rican women Mennonites in Pennsylvania: Between two worlds. Paper Presented at the Pennsylvania History Association Conference, Lebanon Valley College, Annville, PA.
Guzmán-Zavala, I., Luna Minguez, T., & Hinshaw, J.H. (2015, April 17-18). Oral histories of Latina Mennonites. Paper presented at MACLAS XXXVI, Ithaca College, Ithaca, N.Y.
Hinshaw, J. H. (2015, October 8). Dutchirican: Puerto Ricans in Central PA. Paper Presented at the Pennsylvania Historical Association, Lebanon Valley College, Annville, Pa.
Hinshaw, J. H. (2016 October) Dutchirican: The Growing Puerto Rican Presence in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country. In The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 140, No. 3, Immigrationand Ethnicity in Pennsylvania History (October 2016), pp. 365-392
Broader materials on histories of Puerto Rican and Latinx communities in the United States
Acosta-Belén, Edna, and Carlos E. Santiago, Puerto Ricans in the United States: A Contemporary Portrait (Boulder, CO, 2006)
Cantrell Lacy, Elaine, and Mary E. Odem, Latino Immigrants and the Transformation of the U.S. South (Athens, GA, 2009)
Duany, Jorge, The Puerto Rican Nation on the Move: Identities on the Island and in the United States (Chapel Hill, NC, 2002).
Lattanzi Shutika, Debra, Beyond the Borderlands: Migration and Belonging in the United States and Mexico. (University of California Press, 2011)
Martínez, Ángel Luis, Young, Gifted, and Brown: Ricanstructing Through Autoethnopoetic Stories for Critical Diasporic Puerto Rican Pedagogy (2015). Dissertations & Theses. 236. https://aura.antioch.edu/etds/236
Whalen, Carmen Teresa, From Puerto Rico to Philadelphia: Puerto Rican Workers and Postwar Economies (Philadelphia, 2001).
Copies of books listed here are available at Street Road throughout the course of the exhibition. Many are available permanently in the lending section of Street Road's Little Free Library 19330.
Suggested viewing
Dutchirican: A Latin@ History of Central Pennsylvania
A presentation to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania by Ivette Guzmán-Zavala and John Hinshaw, May 10, 2017
A selection of articles by Guzmán-Zavala and Hinshaw
Guzmán-Zavala, I. (2015, October 8). Puerto Rican women Mennonites in Pennsylvania: Between two worlds. Paper Presented at the Pennsylvania History Association Conference, Lebanon Valley College, Annville, PA.
Guzmán-Zavala, I., Luna Minguez, T., & Hinshaw, J.H. (2015, April 17-18). Oral histories of Latina Mennonites. Paper presented at MACLAS XXXVI, Ithaca College, Ithaca, N.Y.
Hinshaw, J. H. (2015, October 8). Dutchirican: Puerto Ricans in Central PA. Paper Presented at the Pennsylvania Historical Association, Lebanon Valley College, Annville, Pa.
Hinshaw, J. H. (2016 October) Dutchirican: The Growing Puerto Rican Presence in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country. In The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 140, No. 3, Immigrationand Ethnicity in Pennsylvania History (October 2016), pp. 365-392
Broader materials on histories of Puerto Rican and Latinx communities in the United States
Acosta-Belén, Edna, and Carlos E. Santiago, Puerto Ricans in the United States: A Contemporary Portrait (Boulder, CO, 2006)
Cantrell Lacy, Elaine, and Mary E. Odem, Latino Immigrants and the Transformation of the U.S. South (Athens, GA, 2009)
Duany, Jorge, The Puerto Rican Nation on the Move: Identities on the Island and in the United States (Chapel Hill, NC, 2002).
Lattanzi Shutika, Debra, Beyond the Borderlands: Migration and Belonging in the United States and Mexico. (University of California Press, 2011)
Martínez, Ángel Luis, Young, Gifted, and Brown: Ricanstructing Through Autoethnopoetic Stories for Critical Diasporic Puerto Rican Pedagogy (2015). Dissertations & Theses. 236. https://aura.antioch.edu/etds/236
Whalen, Carmen Teresa, From Puerto Rico to Philadelphia: Puerto Rican Workers and Postwar Economies (Philadelphia, 2001).