Puerto Rican Studies Commons^™

Star Wars: Andor – An Abolitionist Study Guide, Marcelo Garzo Montalvo, Isaac Ginsberg Miller

Feminist Pedagogy

This study guide provides a set of activities for teaching abolition through Season 1 of the speculative fiction TV series Star Wars: Andor (2022). Through the practice of critical literacy (viewing, reading, and analysis), we offer various ideas on how to engage Andor as a relevant pedagogical tool for studying and teaching abolitionist movement histories and methodologies. By guiding students through a critical analysis of this widely-circulated, mainstream cultural text, we seek to activate an abolitionist pedagogical lens that can be applied across various genres and media – making tangible connections between popular culture and political struggles writ large. These …

Black Americans’ Strategic Disengagement In Digital Protest: A Thematic Analysis Of Youtube Responses To Latino Deportation Appeals (2025), Professor Meya E. Hargett

The Scholarship Without Borders Journal

This qualitative study, grounded in digital discourse theory, investigates Black Americans’ responses to the Latino community’s calls for protest support against federal deportation policies under the current U.S. administration. Twelve publicly available YouTube videos from Spring 2025 were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis to identify key patterns in Black discourse, including themes of strategic withdrawal, political disillusionment, solidarity fatigue, and historical tension.

This study defines 'stand down' as a deliberate, non-antagonistic decision to refrain from participating in another group’s protest movement. Findings indicate that disengagement is not rooted in apathy but is shaped by long-standing racialized experiences, ideological misalignment, and …

Where Did All The Democrats Go?, Reese Adkins

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Following the reelection of President Obama in 2012, many political scientists such as Ruy Teixeira and John B. Judis, believed that this signaled the beginning of many Democratic electoral victories to come. They published their argument in their book, The Emerging Democratic Majority, in which they explained the Democratic Party’s plan to gain a systemic advantage in presidential elections. This was to be achieved by winning elections through winning the vote of minority groups, white women, and young college-educated people. This has been far from the case. Donald Trump, with political experience, shocked the world after winning the 2016 election …

One Hundred Years Of Morales Y Benet V. La Junta Local De Inscripciones: The Use Of The Insular Cases To Deny Women’S Voting Rights In Puerto Rico, Joel Andrews Cosme-Morales

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

The centenary of

Morales y Benet provides an opportunity to reflect on the inequalities women faced under Puerto Rican colonialism in the early 20th century, shaped by the legal imperialism of the United States over the archipelago. This article explores the holding in Morales y Benet v. La Junta Local de Inscripciones and its impact on women’s lives during the last 100 years.

The decision in

Morales y Benet came at a time when women in the mainland United States had already secured the right to vote, following decades of suffrage activism that culminated in the passage of the Nineteenth …

Analyzing Decolonial Subjectivities In Reggaeton And Latin-Trap Music In Puerto Rico: A Critical Discourse Analyisis, Andres I. Rivera Amador

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project studies decolonial possibilities for subjectivities in the urban music genres of reggaeton and Latin-trap in Puerto Rico. Using Ian Parker’s critical discourse analysis to analyze the lyrics and videos of three key songs, it systematically examines subjects constructed in songs, objects, discourses, and their relationships to each other. In addition to studying reggaeton and Latin-trap lyrics, the project highlights the emergence of social themes that guide the critical discursive analysis. Psychological literature and decolonial theory supplement the analysis, bringing in important theoretical insights regarding the songs’ salient social themes, such as black pride and resistance, gender fluidity and …

Testimony Before The Puerto Rico Advisory Committee To The United States Commission On Civil Rights On The Role That Race And Ethnicity Play In The Treatment Of The People Of Puerto Rico By The Federal Government, Yomaira Figueroa, Carlos Vargas-Ramos

CUNY Centro, The Center for Puerto Rican Studies

The Insular Cases, whether the narrow or more expansive canon, have structured the political relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States for more than a century. The genesis of this “third-way” of understanding and structuring the territorial relationship with the United States rested on the very ethnocentric and indeed racist ideology pervasive at the time in U.S. ruling circles, whereby there was a hierarchy of dominance and control that placed White Anglo Saxon Protestant men at the top and subordinated all other ethnic and racial groups in a gradation of subservience and exclusion.

The Eugenic Sterilization Of Puerto Rican Women: A Case Of Us Interests And Religious/Spiritual Freedom, Anique Y. Jones

International Studies (MA) Theses

Between the 1930s and 1970s, approximately one-third of Puerto Rican women of childbearing age (20–49) were sterilized— the highest rate in the world during that time. Driven by U.S. political and economic interests, and underpinned by eugenic ideology, Governor Blanton Winship and President Franklin D. Roosevelt championed sterilization as a solution to the island’s perceived "overpopulation" and its associated problems: unemployment, disease, and poverty. While Puerto Rican women were exploited as instruments of U.S. policy, sterilization paradoxically became widely accepted as a form of birth control on the island. This thesis critically examines the power dynamics and collective responses that …

A Love Letter To Puerto Rico: Reggaetón As A Platform For Anti-Colonial Protest And Bad Bunny's Advocacy For Indigenous Sovereignty, Skye L. Gonzalez

Honors College Theses

This study explores the intersections of colonial history, cultural identity, and musical resistance through a rhetorical analysis of Bad Bunny’s 2025 album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos. Grounded in the context of Puerto Rico’s colonial relationship with the United States, I examine how reggaetón — a genre historically rooted in resistance — continues to serve as a platform for political expression and cultural reclamation. As reggaetón moves into the global mainstream, questions arise around the tension between commercial success and cultural authenticity. Focusing on Bad Bunny as both a cultural icon and political figure, this thesis considers how Debí Tirar …

Ai-Enhanced Essay Prompt: Exploring Your Identity And Life Experiences, Victor M. Torres-Velez

Open Educational Resources

This assignment, AI-Enhanced Essay Prompt: Exploring Your Identity and Life Experiences, guides students through a reflective writing process that integrates personal narratives with academic concepts related to identity, globalization, and migration. Students will examine how their nationality, ethnicity, race, social class, and gender are shaped by larger cultural and transnational forces. The structured approach encourages students to engage with AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Grammarly) as personalized writing tutors, assisting with brainstorming, organization, clarity, and revision while maintaining their authentic voice.

The essay requires students to build upon previously submitted personal anecdotes, analyze their experiences through course readings (including works …