CRI Director Invited to Lecture in Gainesville

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Dr. Jorge Duany will be a guest speaker at the University of Florida in Gainesville on the economic crisis and migration in Puerto Rico. In particular, the talk will review the island's recent economic and demographic downturn, as well as analyze the multiple effects of population loss in Puerto Rico. Dr. Duany will also assess the prospects for an even larger population displacement to Florida after hurricane María.

The lecture is sponsored by the Waldo W. Neikirk Chair in Latin American History, occupied by Dr. Lillian Guerra. The talk will be scheduled during Dr. Guerra's undergraduate class on "The History of Cuba and Puerto Rico" on Tuesday, November 21, 2017, from 10:40 to 11:30 AM. The course is based on the premise that Cuba and Puerto Rico have far more in common than they have differences. Analyzing these common denominators, especially internal struggles over race, class, and the role of imperial power, is a primary focus of the course.

Dr. Jorge Duany is an expert on Caribbean migration, ethnicity, race, nationalism, and transnationalism, particularly in Cuba and Puerto Rico. He has published numerous articles and twenty books on these subjects, including Puerto Rico: What Everyone Needs to Know (2017), Un pueblo disperso: Dimensiones sociales y culturales de la diáspora cubana (2014), and Blurred Borders: Transnational Migration between the Hispanic Caribbean and the United States (2011).