Le « héros indécis »: Porto Rico et les îles Vierges américaines

The idea of a fractured political voice of post-colonial subjects has been amply debated in the anthropological literature and beyond, and scholars have used a variety of terms to describe this fractured voice, « indecisive » being perhaps the most common. While many observers have assessed this indecisive political behavior in broad negative terms, in this paper we will argue, following the insights of Richard Rosa and Doris Sommer, that it is also possible to reach an interpretation of the colonized subject as an "undecided hero;" and that the political teachings of 19th century Puerto Rican philosopher/politician Eugenio María de Hostos (himself and "undecided hero") can help illuminate the argument we wish to put forward: that there is a productive dimension to indecisiveness. At an empirical level, the aim is to shed some light on the political behavior of colonized subjects in two US territorial possessions in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands (USVI); particularly as it is played out it status referendums held in their modern history, during the second half of the twentieth century and onward.