by Daniel Strom
On November 20, Digitizing the Barrio (DTB) brought Paseo Boricua to the American Studies Association national conference held in San Juan Puerto Rico. Through a panel organized and moderated by former La Voz editor and current UC Berkeley professor Michael Rodríguez- Muñiz titled “Barrio Dreams, Diaspora Memories” Angelica Hernandez, Lead Archivist of DTB, Anissa Camacho former research assistant in the archive and current UC Berkeley Ph.D. student and Daniel Strom, currently a research assistant for DTB presented research informed by the archive and our communities past, present and future.
Daniel presented his M.A paper “Fighting the Machine, Fighting the Empire: Puerto Rican Radical Politics in Chicago 1966-1983” sharing the history of the liberation movements that emerged in West Town/Humboldt Park. Anissa shared her research in “Mapping Humboldt Park: Climate Displacement of the Puerto Rican Diaspora of Chicago”. The paper utilizes her work with the Puerto Rican Agendas Climate Committee and ethnography as a tree ambassador to discuss the impact of climate change on the Humboldt Park community and people’s perceptions of these phenomena. Angelica closed out the panel with a moving and powerful remembrance titled “Barrio Histories: Recovering Forgotten Voices From Puerto Rican Chicago’s Fight for Vieques”. She combined archival materials from DTB on the fight for Vieques with accounts of the people involved in that struggle, including many in the community.
Puerto Rican Chicago was well represented at the ASA, reminding attendees that our history and our present struggles contain important lessons on resisting US empire and new waves of repression. We’re excited for the future of scholarship in the diaspora that draws from the archive and the lived experiences of this neighborhood.
