March 19, 2024 12:00pm - 1:30pm
This talk examines the protests that rocked Puerto Rico during the summer of 2019, known as the Verano Boricua. The Verano Boricua is important not just because it resulted in the resignation of Ricardo Rosselló, the first time a democratically elected Puerto Rican governor has vacated their post. It is also important because it indexed a political praxis rooted in the idea of truly living in Puerto Rico –that is, living a life of dignity and respect that is free of degradation and violence. In a context where colonial capitalism creates conditions of vulnerability, harm, and death in the lives of many Puerto Ricans, I show how the Verano Boricua drew from a long radical tradition of feminist, queer, anti-racist, anti-capitalist and anti-colonial organizing in Puerto Rico and its diaspora in order to promote conditions that foster and affirm Puerto Rican life.
Marisol LeBrón is an Associate Professor of Feminist Studies and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Marisol LeBrón is an interdisciplinary scholar whose research and teaching focus on race, social inequality, policing, violence, and protest. Prior to arriving at UCSC, she held appointments at the University of Texas at Austin, Dickinson College, and Duke University. She received her PhD in American Studies from New York University and her bachelor's degree in Comparative American Studies and Latin American Studies from Oberlin College.
An active contributor to popular conversations about policing as well as Puerto Rico and its diaspora, she has published op-eds in The Washington Post, The Guardian and Truthout in addition to being interviewed by a number of news outlets. She is one of the co-creators and project leaders for the Puerto Rico Syllabus (#PRsyllabus), a digital resource for understanding the Puerto Rican debt crisis. She is also one of the editors for The Abusable Past, a digital project that features unique and original content related to the praxis of radical history in this social and political moment. She is currently the Vice President/President Elect of the Puerto Rican Studies Association and a member of the Executive Committee of the American Studies Association