There is a country in the Caribbean that is currently undergoing a severe water crisis, adding to an already collapsing electric infrastructure. And I am not talking about Cuba, but about the Puerto Rican archipelago--a colony of the United States.
Jorell Meléndez-Badillo
@jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social
Associate Prof of Latin American and Caribbean History @UWMadison. ✍️The Lettered Barriada (DukeUP); Puerto Rico: A National History (PrincetonUP/Planeta); A Counter-Republic of Letters (under contract w/ DukeUP). 🇵🇷 💾: https://linktr.ee/jmelendezbadillo
Attending the National Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York today? Stop into a bookstore for a copy of @jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social's Puerto Rico, a panoramic history of #PuertoRico from pre-Columbian times to today. 🇵🇷 Learn more about this important book: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...
Attending the National Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York today? Listen to this audiobook on the way! @jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social's Puerto Rico is a panoramic history of Puerto Rico from pre-Columbian times to today 🇵🇷 Listen to a preview here, plus take 30% off with code PUP30: buff.ly/Ot9Lcix
This April we're releasing a slew of terrific new titles, including "Interrogating the Future of Puerto Rican Studies" edited by Aurora Santiago Ortiz @santiaaurora.bsky.social and Jorell Meléndez-Badillo @jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social. Check out the full list on our blog: buff.ly/cb6xrFO
It’s not nuanced: when you celebrate the elimination of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion it’s because you are promoting and fostering Homogeneity, Inequity, and Exclusion.
"Interrogating the Future of Puerto Rican Studies," edited by Aurora Santiago Ortiz and @jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social, examines the disciplinary and epistemic transformations that have given way to new understandings of the field of Puerto Rican studies. Read the intro fro free now: buff.ly/iInTccO
See @jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture tomorrow (Feb 20) at 6:00pm CST! He'll discuss his book, Puerto Rico, and how his scholarship is shaping how Puerto Rican history is being understood, even influencing Bad Bunny. Register here: buff.ly/nDY7pBA
You can read more of @jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social's work on the history of Puerto Rico in HAHR via @dukepress.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1215/0018...
A Party of Ex-convicts: Bolívar Ochart, Carceral Logics, and the Socialist Party in Early Twentieth-Century Puerto Rico
Abstract. This article uses the case of Bolívar Ochart, a midlevel member of the Socialist Party of Puerto Rico, to explore the ways that labor leaders navigated the Puerto Rican polity after the 1898...
doi.org
Hispanic American Historical Review@hahr21.bsky.social · 7mo agoHAHR author Jorell Meléndez-Badillo provides historical context for the @npr.org Throughline episode on the music and career of Bad Bunny. open.spotify.com/episode/33kC...
Before you rush off to buy your tix to PR, please educate yourself a bit. You can read my book (Making Never-Never Land: Race and Law in the Creation of PR) & my homie's @jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social (PR: A National History) & many others, just do your homework. consequence.net/2026/02/bad-...
Bad Bunny's Super Bowl Halftime Show Leads to 245% Spike in Travel Interest to Puerto Rico
Bad Bunny's halftime show has caused a major increase in flight searches to Puerto Rico and other Latin countries.
consequence.net
In a moment when our ability to imagine a future is under attack, I had the privilege of co-editing w @santiaaurora.bsky.social this volume gathering so many incredible scholars and activists thinking about the future of Puerto Rican Studies. The book comes out on April 21 w @dukepress.bsky.social
Cover reveal day! @jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social and I’s co-edited volume. We are thrilled to be in the company of such wonderful cutting edge scholars. Preorder at www.dukeupress.edu/interrogatin....
My colleague Andrea Flores, profiled @jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social back in Jan 2025 about collabing with BB. www.latimes.com/delos/story/...
Bad Bunny's 'Debí Tirar Más Fotos' is a love letter to Puerto Rico. This professor helped him tell the island's history
Released Jan. 5, the record pays homage to the island’s rich rhythms like plena and salsa, and delves into it’s seldom taught history.
latimes.com
Last week we published this op-ed by @jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social about the historic nature of this performance. Jorell is the academic who worked with bad bunny’s team on the visualizers for DTMF, which were full of lessons on Puerto Rican history www.latimes.com/delos/story/...
Essay: Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show will be a history lesson for the ages
Historian Jorell A. Meléndez-Badillo hopes Bad Bunny's halftime show will combat "acute ignorance" about Puerto Rico and its ongoing entanglement with the United States.
latimes.com
Jorell is quite rightly being lauded for collaborating with Bad Bunny, and his PUERTO RICO, from @princetonupress.bsky.social, is fantastic, I keep thinking, as I've watched MPLS, of his earlier book THE LETTERED BARRIADA, about PR organizing and educating under occupation in the first half of C20.
The Lettered Barriada: Workers, Archival Power, and the Politics of Knowledge in Puerto Rico
dukeupress.edu
I wrote this article last week and, luckily, it still holds after the Benito Bowl: “I believe Bad Bunny’s performance will invite people to understand the beauty and complexity of our people’s history, even if it makes outsiders uncomfortable.”
Jorell Meléndez-Badillo@jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social · 7mo agoCheck out my opinion piece at De Los from the Los Angeles Times on Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show as a history lesson.
Bad Bunny’s performance began in the plantation, featured broken electric poles, and ended by centering a hemispheric understanding of “América”—among many other things—and some Anglo journalists are like “his performance wasn’t political.” This is why we need to be telling our stories.
Pretty sure one was consulted, definitely was for the album news.wisc.edu/pop-star-bad...
Pop star Bad Bunny needed a Puerto Rican history scholar. UW–Madison had just the one.
Bad Bunny collaborated with UW–Madison history professor Jorell Meléndez-Badillo on Puerto Rican narratives that accompany the new album “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS.”
news.wisc.edu
Check out my CNN interview talking about el bebo, a.k.a. Bad Bunny:
cnn on Instagram: "Super Bowl halftime performer Bad Bunny has been vocal about his views on immigration recently, but the Puerto Rican singer has bee…"
Super Bowl halftime performer Bad Bunny has been vocal about his views on immigration recently, but the Puerto Rican singer has been outspoken about political issues since he first came to the scene years ago.Read more at the link in our bio.
instagram.com
Check out my opinion piece at De Los from the Los Angeles Times on Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show as a history lesson.
Essay: Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show will be a history lesson for the ages
Historian Jorell A. Meléndez-Badillo hopes Bad Bunny's halftime show will combat "acute ignorance" about Puerto Rico and its ongoing entanglement with the United States.
latimes.com
Congratulations to Bad Bunny, whose album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS won Album of the Year at the 2026 #GRAMMYS! 🎉 🏆️ Did you know that the album’s accompanying YouTube visualizers were written by @jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social, author of Puerto Rico: A National History? (1/3)
To know more about the album of the year and its many layers, read this story about @jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social. “Bad Bunny’s ‘Debí Tirar Más Fotos’ is a love letter to Puerto Rico. This professor helped him tell the island’s history” www.latimes.com/delos/story/...
Bad Bunny's 'Debí Tirar Más Fotos' is a love letter to Puerto Rico. This professor helped him tell the island's history
Released Jan. 5, the record pays homage to the island’s rich rhythms like plena and salsa, and delves into it’s seldom taught history.
latimes.com
Jorell Meléndez-Badillo trabalhou com o astro Bad Bunny em seu último álbum para informar os fãs sobre a história de luta popular de Porto Rico. Seu trabalho como historiador é parte de um importante momento político pelo qual os porto-riquenhos estão passando agora.
A radical história de Porto Rico está sendo redescoberta
Jorell Meléndez-Badillo trabalhou com o astro Bad Bunny em seu novo álbum para informar os fãs sobre a história de luta popular de Porto Rico. Seu trabalho como historiador é parte de um importante mo...
jacobin.com.br
The CfP for the 2026 Puerto Rican Studies Association Conference in Chicago is officially live!!! The theme is “Rooted Rican Pasts, Solidarity Futures.” www.ricanstudies.com/2026-cfp
ICYMI, watch “Deep Dive: Listening to Bad Bunny - @jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social and Miguel Zenón in Conversation” youtu.be/YYh1WJ2fEUs Listening to key tracks, a scholar and a musician discuss the musical and cultural significance of this extremely popular artist. @cuny.edu #puertorican
Deep Dive: Listening to Bad Bunny - Jorell Meléndez-Badillo and Miguel Zenón in Conversation
YouTube video by CUNY Graduate Center
youtu.be
Thank you for a fascinating look at the music & impact of #BadBunny! “Deep Dive: Listening to Bad Bunny - @jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social & Miguel Zenón in Conversation” was moderated by Maurice Restrepo and introduced by Agustina Checa. Video coming soon!
The Spring 2026 catalog is live! We're featuring #NewBooks by @rtrodrig.bsky.social, @beansvelocci.bsky.social, @amynbooks.bsky.social, @lalehkhalili.bsky.social, @jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social, @santiaaurora.bsky.social, and so many more. Check it out now: buff.ly/eJyyixc
Given that we are in December and are looking back at the year that was, I’m particularly proud of this Bad Bunny article we published in January. It’s about how intentional Benito was about crafting the album of the year, leaning into the history of the island that made him the world’s biggest star
Jorell Meléndez-Badillo@jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social · 2y agoThe LA Times did a profile of my collaboration w Bad Bunny. 🫣🇵🇷🙏🏼 www.latimes.com/delos/story/...
Join us Wed, 12/10, 6:30p (in person or online) for Deep Dive: Listening to Bad Bunny - @jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social & Miguel Zenón in Conversation – RESERVE: www.gc.cuny.edu/events/deep-... Listen to key tracks and learn about the style and significance of this extremely popular artist. #BadBunny
Deep Dive: Listening to Bad Bunny - Jorell Meléndez-Badillo and Miguel Zenón in Conversation
Elebash Recital Hall
gc.cuny.edu
Tomorrow (Dec 2) at 5:00 pm CST, please join the University of Minnesota in welcoming @jmelendezbadillo.bsky.social for a guest lecture on his book, Puerto Rico, as part of the Katherine E. Nash Gallery's exhibit "21st-Century Art of Puerto Rico and Its Diaspora." Learn more here: buff.ly/tqbbInO
