Instructor: Dr. Adriana Chira 

Course Description: Since the turn of the twentieth century, Puerto Rico has occupied a complex political and economic position at the intersection of US and Latin American socio-cultural and political influences, as the island changed its status from that of a Spanish colony into US territory. What has US sovereign control over the island meant to Puerto Ricans politically and economically? How did the status as a US territory emerge legally, and how is it different from that of a US state or from that of a colony? How did Puerto Rico’s status as US territory shape its economic and social trajectory? We will pay close attention to questions of public debt, housing access, population control, and food sovereignty. The island has been a laboratory for policies designed to target poverty and social marginalization that resonated globally. We will develop knowledge about the island directly from archival sources and from online repositories. 

The course is collaborative and research-oriented. There will be no exams, no quizzes, or other in-class tests. I will deliver extremely short lectures that provide some context, but we will spend most of our time discussing secondary and primary sources with an eye to developing final projects in the form of StoryMaps using this platform:  

https://www.esri.com/en-us/arcgis/products/arcgis-storymaps/overview 

During the first five weeks of the semester, we will be reading one monograph that will situate Puerto Rico within the larger history of US expansionism. We will be taking notes, do short presentations, and engage in discussion with an eye toward gathering information for our projects.