This talk traces the ways that activists and ordinary citizens mobilize coraje in order to navigate the obstructed agency created by the constraints of colonial capitalism in contemporary Puerto Rico. In Spanish, coraje has a dual meaning referring to courage as well as anger or rage. I examine a series of examples that demonstrate how coraje has emerged as a key target of state repression. I argue that the state is preoccupied with the growing coraje being articulated by Puerto Ricans because it has the potential to create networks of solidarity grounded in a refusal of the current order. Ultimately, in their collective coraje, Puerto Ricans who had felt silenced by colonial capitalism, misogyny, queer antagonism, and racism have found a way to push back and articulate a different way of living in Puerto Rico.
This event is free and open to the public.
