Introduction 1. The Bomberos and Puerto Rican Identity Meaning-Making The Bomberos: Personal Histories Puerto Rican Identity and Belonging 2. Bomba Fashion Negotiations via Time, Place, and Space Bomba Island Fashions Origin Stories on the Island: Sixteenth to Nineteenth Centuries Bomba Exclusion, Persecution, and Persistence Period: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries From Batey to the Stage: Bomba as Folklorized Practice in the Twentieth Century From the Stage Back to the Community: Bombazo Era in the Late Twentieth Century Bomba's Resurgence: Contemporary Happenings in the Twenty First Century 3. The Marketplace of Bomba Fashions: Making, Consuming, and Authenticity Early Dressmaking Stories and Histories Consumption and Buying from Others Mass Production and Meaning Making Inherited Gifts Consuming Authenticity Tensions 4. Embodying Bomba Fashions as Forms of Connectedness and Visual Art Connectedness to a Deeper Sense of Self and Personal Agency Connectedness to Joy and Freedom Connectedness to Family Members Connectedness to Puerto Rican Histories, Bomba Histories, and Puerto Rican Identities The Bomba Skirt as a Canvas of Expression Music, Not the Clothing, Is the Heart of Bomba Bringing Bomba Fashion into the Bombero Daily Style Tensions and Fluidity Between Bomba as Costume and Everyday Wear 5. Bomba Ways of Knowing The Importance of Oral Traditions and the Challenge of Documentation and Lost Knowledge The Importance of Learning and Teaching Others The Desire to Seek Knowledge: Understanding Bomba through Independent Research Knowledge Transmission via Family Members and Longtime Bomba Practitioners Acquiring Knowledge of Bomba: The Influence of the Escuela de Bomba y Plena Rafael Cepeda Atiles Seamstresses and Dressmakers as Intergeneration Knowledge Sharers Conclusion Appendix Amanda Ortiz-Pellot Positionality Reflection Kelly Reddy-Best Positionality Reflection Methodology Limitations Interview Schedule in English Programa de Entrevista.