ABSTRACT
Puerto Rico represents a singular case, with historical and cultural parallels with Latin America, but subject to the legal, political, and trade framework of the United States. Debates on culture in Puerto Rico are generally subordinated to political or economic issues. In times of multiple crises, governments, international organizations, the private sector and citizen's movements have turned to culture as a resource for fostering economic growth, social inclusion and wellbeing. To challenge prevailing ideologies of progress in Puerto Rico requires a thorough working with the collective social imagination. After a military invasion of the island, as part of the Spanish-Cuban-American War, the United States imposed a colonial regime with scarce participation of Puerto Ricans in government. The progressive expansion of Puerto Rican's self-governing powers during the 1940s, culminating in the establishment of the Commonwealth in 1952, enabled the foundations for a cultural policy of a greater scope.
