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P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance
P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance, by authors Vanessa Díaz and Petra R. Rivera-Rideau, examines the colonial history and present of Puerto Rico through the lens and lyrics of Bad Bunny celebrating the many forms of daily resistance that are integral to Puerto Rican life and culture.
Drawing on interviews with artists, musicians, the journalists, and politicians and ethnographic research, authors show how Bad Bunny’s music is intimately composed from generations of love, pride, grief, and the unrelenting anticolonial resistance of Puerto Rico.
MODERATOR
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Dr. Carmen Rojas is the president and CEO of Marguerite Casey Foundation. Under her leadership, which started in 2020, MCF launched the prestigious Freedom Scholar award and has granted more than $323 million in funding to dozens of organizations doing the hard work of shifting power to those people who have long been excluded from having it. Prior to MCF, Dr. Rojas was the cofounder and CEO of the Workers Lab, an innovation lab that partners with workers to develop new ideas that help them succeed and flourish.
PANELISTS
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Vanessa Díaz is an interdisciplinary ethnographer and journalist. She is an associate professor in the Department of Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies at Loyola Marymount University. Díaz is the author of two books: P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance (2026), coauthored with Petra Rivera-Rideau, and Manufacturing Celebrity: Latino Paparazzi and Women Reporters in Hollywood (2020). With Rivera-Rideau, she is also the creator of the “Bad Bunny Syllabus,” which explores the cultural significance of Bad Bunny and the complex, dynamic historical and contemporary realities of Puerto Rico.
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Petra Rivera-Rideau is an associate professor and chair of American Studies at Wellesley College. She is the author of three books: P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance (2026), coauthored with Vanessa Díaz, Remixing Reggaeton: The Cultural Politics of Race in Puerto Rico (2015), and Fitness Fiesta! Selling Latinx Culture Through Zumba (2024). In 2025, she was named one of the ALX100, a recognition of the top 100 Latinx leaders in Massachusetts. She also received the Harvard Latina/o Alumni Alliance Latinx/e of the Year award for her contributions to studies of Puerto Rican culture and history. With Díaz, she is also the creator of the “Bad Bunny Syllabus.”
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