Puerto Rico Syllabus is a list of resources for teaching and learning about the current economic crisis in Puerto Rico.
Our goal is to contribute to the ongoing public dialogue and rising social activism regarding the debt crisis by providing historical and sociological tools to assess its roots and repercussions.
Section 1
Basic information regarding Puerto Rico’s political and economic history as an “unincorporated territory.”
Section 2
The origins of Puerto Rico’s $72 billion debt, and various resolutions local and federal governments pursued to alleviate it.
Section 3
How the debt crisis has put Puerto Rico’s liminal political status under a microscope, making evident its non-sovereignty.
Section 4
The myriad ways in which the fiscal crisis threatens Puerto Ricans’ daily life, including health, education, and the environment.
Section 5
Tracking Puerto Ricans’ migration patterns: who is migrating, their motivations for leaving, and how they are characterized by others.
Section 6
The varied ways in which Puerto Ricans—on the island and abroad—have challenged the Fiscal Oversight Board and policies of austerity.
Section 7
About the deadly Category 5 storm of 2017, its aftermath on the island, and what the storm revealed.
Section 8
The summer of 2019 brought a plurality of Puerto Ricans into the streets, demanding Ricardo Rosselló to resign.
Section 9
Visions of resistance against Puerto Rico’s colonially manufactured debt.
Section 10
Black feminism and the concept of intersectionality as it pertains to the Puerto Rican debt crisis.
Section 11
A collaboration between the Puerto Rico Syllabus and Defend Puerto Rico, this Microsyllabus accompanies the documentary film, War Against Our Schools (2021).
Section 12
A collaboration between the Puerto Rico Syllabus and the Bad Bunny Syllabus, this Microsyllabus accompanies the video and documentary, El Apagón/ Aquí Vive Gente (2022).
