Espacios coloniales, dispositivos de poder, cuerpos disciplinados: el nuevo orden escolar en Puerto Rico durante los primeros años del Departamento de Educación (Esbozo de una investigación en proceso)

Abstract

The article emphasizes the importance of the material wherewithal that provided the material support for the disciplining of bodies and minds of students and teachers of a new educational regime under United States sovereignty in early 20th century Puerto Rico. In contrast to the ideological perspectives predominant in recent historiography, this research documents the introduction of new equipment –school desks, textbooks, clocks, blackboards and water closets– that were located in the spaces created by the novel architecture of the public school house. These school buildings and equipment promoted the rigorous organization of time and space in the educational institutions dispersed throughout the Island. The article suggests that the public school was fundamental in the creation of colonial spaces and subjects. Furthermore, it argues that the implementation of bio-politics at the governmental level rested, in part, on that institution.