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"If God Were Black and from Loíza"

Managing Identities in a Puerto Rican Seaside Town

Loíza, a municipality on the northeast coast of Puerto Rico, is principally known for its majority black population, its strong African tradition (expressed primarily through the community celebration of Santiago Apóstol), and its slow, limited development. In recent years it has attracted media attention because of its high crime rate and local efforts to develop tourism within a highly competitive tourist industry. The efforts of loiceños to improve their social and economic condition can be productively viewed in terms of the formation of identity, which involves complex relationships between local, national, transnational, religious, and cultural identities and those based on skin color and ethnic background and relationships of power that drive identity formation on a daily basis.

Key Words: identity • culture • development • Africanness • Puerto Rico

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