The Queer Nuyorican critically studies the historical, political, and cultural conditions under which the term “Nuyorican” shifts from a raced/ethnic identity marker to “nuyorican,” an aesthetic practice. While “Nuyorican,” uppercase N, marks an ethnic, political, and cultural identity signifying Puerto Rican community, culture, and struggle in New York City from the late 1960s through the 1980s, “nuyorican,” lowercase n, references an aesthetic practice that developed alongside the spoken word and competitive slam poetry scene in the 1990s. The nuyorican aesthetic queers fixed definitions of ... More

The Queer Nuyorican critically studies the historical, political, and cultural conditions under which the term “Nuyorican” shifts from a raced/ethnic identity marker to “nuyorican,” an aesthetic practice. While “Nuyorican,” uppercase N, marks an ethnic, political, and cultural identity signifying Puerto Rican community, culture, and struggle in New York City from the late 1960s through the 1980s, “nuyorican,” lowercase n, references an aesthetic practice that developed alongside the spoken word and competitive slam poetry scene in the 1990s. The nuyorican aesthetic queers fixed definitions of Nuyorican identity by recognizing and including queer poets and performers of color whose cultural works build upon the linguistic, spatial, and ethno-cultural politics inherent in the Cafe’s founding. Initially situated within the Cafe’s physical space and countercultural discursive history, the nuyorican aesthetic extends beyond these gendered and ethnic boundaries, broadening the ethnic marker “Nuyorican” in order to include queer, trans, and diasporic performance modalities. Focusing on the interventions made by queer and trans artists of color—Miguel Piñero, Regie Cabico, Glam Slam participants, and Ellison Glenn/Black Cracker—this book argues that the Nuyorican Poets Cafe has operated as a queer space since its inception.