The Forever Colony - Paperback

Working and Writing for Change

Series Editors: Steve Parks and Jessica Pauszek

Victor Villanueva tells stories of The Forever Colony through snippets of memoir, creative nonfiction, and fictional magical realism. Each chapter opens with a personal memory and a particular rhetorical trope that reinforces the ongoing colonialism symbolized by Puerto Rico. Memoir and trope are followed by tales told by the spirit Bushika or other narrators, tales with which to imagine Columbus and the Ta?no, Ponce deLe?n, and others sometimes forgotten in histories of Puerto Rico, like the legendary cacica/leader Yu?za, the pirate Miguel Enr?quez, the revolutionaries of the 19th century, the journeys north from settler colony to the economic colony in the northern migrations to the U.S. during the mid-20th century. The stories would have us consider colonialism, racism, and political economy from the perspective of one descended from the world's oldest continuous colony.

What People Are Saying

"Villanueva finds a new way to share with readers the signature quality of his writing: its weave of lyricism and analysis, of narrative and argument, of rhetoric and philosophy." -Ra?l Sanchez, Associate Professor, University of Florida and author of Inside the Subject: A Theory of Identity for the Study of Writing.