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Abstract
This thesis examines the development of the literary movement founded by Puerto Ricans in New York City in the 1960s, commonly known as Nuyorican. Focusing specifically on the performance poetry that has been integral to this movement, it explores the relationship between geography, aesthetics and poetic practice as manifest in the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. While most scholars consider the Cafe the headquarters of the Nuyorican poetic movement, none have analyzed its practical function in the creation and consumption of Nuyorican poetry. In this study, I assert that the existence of the Cafe grounds the movement in a specific context, thus lending it a unified identity; at the same time, the performative character of Nuyorican poetry allows for its dynamic and ever-changing constitution.