Cascading events in the past two decades such as the expiration of Section 936 tax breaks, a prolonged economic recession, Puerto Rico’s unaudited debt and the subsequent imposition of the Puerto Rican Fiscal Oversight and Management Control Board (la Junta), Hurricanes Irma and Maria, the earthquakes of 2019–2020, and the COVID-19 pandemic, all have contributed to migration. Exploitative labor recruitment of Puerto Ricans from the archipelago by stateside companies continues to draw people away. Concurrently, the Puerto Rican diaspora has grown, and Puerto Rican communities have diversified, though less is known about how Puerto Rican families and communities in the diaspora have become heterogenous through patterns of exogamy, cultural identities, regionalism, social mobility, and other factors.

Image Credit: Caldero Familiar, 2024. Photo credit: Rik Sferra. Mixed media installation of found and altered objects with printed digital collage.

This event is made possible thanks to the Mellon funded Rooted + Relational initiative.