This September, Chicago will host the 2026 Puerto Rican Studies Association (PRSA) Biennial Conference, themed Rooted Rican Pasts, Solidarity Futures, from September 11–13 at the University of Illinois Chicago. The three-day event will bring together scholars, artists, students, and community organizers for more than 90 panels, plenary sessions, and public programs exploring a range of topics such as the future of Puerto Rican studies, economic issues facing Puerto Rico and several workshops about publishing and archival initiatives. This year there is a significant presence of students from the University of Puerto Rico coming to share latest developments how they build continuity and community amidst the recent attacks on the University of Puerto Rico.
The Puerto Rican Studies Association is an interdisciplinary academic organization that promotes the development and circulation of knowledge about Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans from the Puerto Rican islands and its broad diasporas. The biennial is an opportunity to bring together scholars, students, and community members working across fields such as history, sociology, literature, education, and cultural studies to share state-of-the-art research on Puerto Rican life on the island and throughout the diaspora — including major hubs like Chicago, New York, and other U.S. cities.
Dr. Maura Toro-Morn, President of the Puerto Rican Studies Association, notes, “The last time PRSA held its biennial conference in the city was 2002. So much has changed in the world and around us since then.” Toro-Morn added, “PRSA is our intellectual and network home for those of us that teach, do research, and work in the field of Puerto Rican Studies. It is a place that welcomed my research and where I found mentors willing to work with me to become the professional that I am today.” She added that the theme of the conference, “Rooted Rican Pasts, Solidarity Futures,” is woven through the history and current efforts evident in Chicago’s Puerto Rican community.
The conference is historic in terms of the record attendance and number of panel sessions organized. Toro-Morn expressed her gratitude to the Paseo Boricua community groups for helping make this a conference to remember. “The Center of Puerto Rican Studies under is a major sponsor of the conference and their presence in the program is significant. Our community has come together to show conference attendees the amazing cultural energy taking place in Paseo Boricua, too. Eduardo Arocho has several mural tours programmed. Friday night we will hold a reception at the newly accredited National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture, showcasing poetry, art, and plena. In collaboration with PROPA, an organization founded in Chicago, we are going to place a commemorative placard at La Casita de Don Pedro y Doña Lolita. This event anchors the conference’s academic work in the lived history of Chicago’s Puerto Rican diaspora. This plaque honors the enduring Afro-Puerto Rican history and culture in Chicago, and the community groups that have sustained it over time.”
Puerto Rican historian Jorell Meléndez-Badillo (University of Wisconsin–Madison) stated, “The Puerto Rican Studies Association is the premier organization for the study of Puerto Ricanness in the world. Not only are we celebrating thirty-four years of existence, but we’re also doing it in Chicago, which has a longstanding Puerto Rican history. With this conference we are hoping to honor those that came before us and built such a vibrant community here in the city. And we’re doing so by celebrating one of our largest gatherings in the association’s history.”
Two awards are given during the conference. One honors the legacy of Frank Bonilla, a leading scholar and founder of the field. The 2026 Frank Bonilla Book Award resulted in a tie between two books, both highly recommended reading for anyone interested in best that the field has to offer with respect to women’s history and organizing and the origins and salsa music:
• Emma Amador, The Politics of Care Work: Puerto Rican Women Organizing for Social Justice (Duke University Press, 2025)
• Marisol Negrón, Made in NuYoRico: Fania Records, Latin Music, and Salsa’s Nuyorican Meanings (Duke University Press, 2024)
Honorable Mention: Dr. Melissa Rosario, Beyond Disaster: Building Collective Futures in Puerto Rico (Northwestern University Press, 2025).
The Virginia Sánchez Korrol Dissertation Award went to Chicago-native writer and literary critic Joe Alicea. His dissertation, “Writing/Rioting Puerto Rican Chicago: Improvisation, Displacement, and Anticolonial Worldmaking,” was completed as a graduate student at UC Santa Cruz. He is currently an assistant professor at DePaul University and is working on transforming his dissertation into a book manuscript.
Honorable Mention went to Dozandri Mendoza’s dissertation, “Dando Cunt and Walking with the Trancestrxs.” Dr. Mendoza received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and is currently an assistant professor in the Department of English at Hunter College.
