Socorro Girón: Primera socióloga del teatro puertorriqueño

Abstract

The writer and researcher Socorro Girón made important contributions to Puerto Rican historiography and theatrical sociology, being a pioneer in this field. Girón incorporates into her analysis of the nineteenth century Puerto Rican dramaturgical work the elements of theatrical analysis proposed by Jean Davignaud in the 1960s, without even knowing them. The concept of "contexts" is key in this analysis: the place in history in which the work is composed, the political, social, economic forces or events that affect the theatrical piece; who is the sender of the discourses in the work in terms of a complex self; and the reception of the work and its speeches by a critical audience. Girón makes discoveries of unknown or forgotten works and addresses them in her analysis following the above-mentioned guidelines. Ramón C. F. Caballero, Ramón Méndez Quiñones and Ramón Marín are some of the authors studied by Girón from the new perspective. It is concluded that Girón is the first sociologist of Puerto Rican theater.