Dr. Elizabeth Aranda, Director of the USF Im/migrant Well-Being Research Center, has contributed a chapter to Post-Disaster Futures: Ruin, Repair, and Decolonial Imagination in Puerto Rico, edited by Yarimar Bonilla and Isabel Guzzardo Tamargo and forthcoming from Haymarket Books.
In “Return Migration to a Post-Disaster Puerto Rico,” Dr. Aranda examines the experiences of Puerto Ricans who relocated to Florida following Hurricane María and the complex circumstances that shaped their decisions to return. The chapter explores how economic and educational opportunities, family relationships, cultural familiarity, and well-being influence return migration and future mobility.
Bringing together scholars, artists, and activists, Post-Disaster Futures examines how Puerto Ricans are envisioning repair, recovery, and decolonial futures amid disaster, austerity, and colonial constraints.