Modes of Listening, National Imaginaries, and Cultural Policies: Trajectories of Musical Research in Puerto Rico and Challenges in Face of Neoliberal Colonial Policies

Abstract

In less than five years, Puerto Rico has lived through a set of social experiences that exacerbated the paradoxes and contradictions of the country’s development model, anchored in our colonial subordination to the United States. What has been the evolution of musical research in times of disaster capitalism and accentuated austerity policies? To address this question, the article proposes a historical look at the writings and research on music, considering their contexts of enunciation. In what ways have popular musical practices been listened to by the State and the literate intelligentsia, and what role have narratives on music played in the country's sociocultural and political debates? What impact have these ways of listening had in the development of cultural and educational policies? What has been the role of the musicians themselves in the production of knowledge about musical practices and traditions, as well as in the configuration of evaluative schemes around them? How is the current situation transforming listening modes and what new approaches to the production of musical knowledge are emerging on the horizon?