This summer, ten students explored a beautiful island with a rich and fraught history through a four-week course, Puerto Rican Culture and Environment, through U of T’s Summer Abroad program.
“I absolutely adore Puerto Rico,” says Conrad James, an associate professor at the Faculty of Arts & Science’s Centre for Comparative Literature, and director of the Centre for Caribbean Studies. “It’s a fascinating place to learn, not just about Puerto Rico, but about the rest of the world and the way in which the Global North and Global South impact each other.”
First conceptualized by Professor Néstor E. Rodríguez from the Department of Spanish & Portuguese, the course was redesigned by James who has taught it for the past two years.
With a month of engaging lectures and field trips, the course attracted 10 undergraduates — nine from U of T and one visiting student from the University of Waterloo from a variety of fields such as Latin American studies, economics, human biology, women and gender studies.
Attending lectures at Universidad del Sagrado Corazón — the island’s oldest university — students spent each week studying a different element of the U.S. territory that is home to more than three million residents.
The first week’s lessons examined the island’s complex colonial history, including the shift from Spanish to U.S. rule — with the island becoming de facto U.S. colony in 1898 — and the effect this had on its people.
Some of the readings included accounts of “racial denial” that occurred when the island’s rule switched from Spain to the U.S. “What you see is a desperate struggle,” says James, referring to many of the island’s residents turning their backs on their African ancestry, and adopting a more European identity.
The second week, the students examined the island’s environmental sustainability, focusing on its ongoing recovery from Hurricane Maria that took the lives of just under 3,000 residents and destroyed most of the island in 2017.
“We talked about the destruction, as well as some of the responses, both political and economic, but also fictional responses, as we studied the novel Velorio by Xavier Navarro Aquino that’s based on the events of Maria,” says James.
“The book’s idea was that society needed to be rebuilt with sustainable energy. But it also required cultural reflection on some of the things that exacerbate disaster when you're in a culture of dependency.”
To see some of the island’s efforts first-hand, students visited Casa Pueblo — a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing agricultural and economic sustainability through solar energy and other community projects.
“It was eye-opening to witness how this community organization is working towards creating a self-reliant country by fostering economic independence,” says Anvam Dawar, a fourth-year student in the economics specialist program at the University of Toronto Mississauga.
“The dedication they have to making a real difference in society was truly inspiring. Seeing their efforts firsthand made me realize the impact that grassroots movements can have on a larger scale.”
The third week focused on the island’s massive debt to the U.S.
As a U.S territory, Puerto Rico is neither a state nor an independent country. Puerto Ricans are American citizens but lack full political rights. This unequal status — often characterized as taxation without representation — has been criticized as a colonial relationship in a postcolonial world.
“Debt is perhaps the worst problem Puerto Rico has faced in the 20th and 21st century,” says James. In 2022, the island owed the U.S. government more than $70 billion.
“We talked about the debt, linking it with other histories of Caribbean societies that have been punished by Europe and the U.S. for debt, which in many ways, is forced upon them.”
James’ group also delved into another difficult part of Puerto Rico’s history: how it was used as a testing ground for medications.
“In the 1950s, birth control tablets were tested on Puerto Rican women without their knowledge,” says James. “We also talked about how in the 1950s and 60s many Puerto Rican women were sterilized.
“That was a calculated plan by the U.S. because it was felt there was a population crisis and that it was restricting productivity. The U.S. also encouraged mass migration from Puerto Rico to the mainland, to New York mainly.”
The final week focused on Puerto Rico’s food, music and culture, including an analysis of the island’s food security.
It’s one thing to read about a place in textbooks, but engaging with the community, hearing their stories, and seeing the history through their eyes made it all come alive. It gave me a deeper, more personal understanding of the island’s past and its cultural significance.
“We discussed food production and consumption, and the ways industrialization changed the way Puerto Ricans ate, moving from organic, crop-based diets to reliance on fast-food culture and processed foods,” says James.
As well, Puerto Rico currently has a significantly higher per capita rate of food stamp recipients compared to most U.S. states.
“And so there are many community-based projects aimed at returning a greater level of food security to the island that involve not just small farming, but a reconnection with the land that existed prior to colonialism,” says James.
The students were also able to connect with the island’s natural spaces, as the group enjoyed hiking and swimming in the El Yunque National Forest.
Located on the slopes of the Sierra de Luquillo mountains, it encompasses more than 113 square kilometres, making it the largest block of public land in Puerto Rico.
The students were also given a chance to enjoy Puerto Rican culture by visiting the coastal town of Loíza, considered the epicentre of Black Puerto Rican culture.
While there, students visited the Piñones Forest, the nearby beaches and ended the day with a visit to the Cueva María de la Cruz Cultural Centre where they attended a workshop on the traditional Afro-Puerto Rican dance known as Bomba.
“It’s one thing to read about a place in textbooks, but engaging with the community, hearing their stories, and seeing the history through their eyes made it all come alive,” says Dawar. “It gave me a deeper, more personal understanding of the island’s past and its cultural significance.
“I also realized the benefits of travel, particularly in how it allows you to connect with people even when you don’t share a language. Despite not knowing Spanish, I was able to communicate and connect with the locals, understand their lives, and adapt to their environment and culture. This experience taught me how to appreciate and navigate different cultures, and it broadened my perspective on the world.”