Book Talk: The Politics of Care Work: Puerto Rican Women Organizing for Social Justice, Emma Amador

The Politics of Care Work: Puerto Rican Women Organizing for Social Justice (Duke University Press, 2025)

In conversation with Professor Ana Ramos Zayas (Yale, ER&M, Anthropology)

Co-sponsored by La Casa Cultural and Despierta Boricua

In The Politics of Care Work, Emma Amador tells the story of Puerto Rican women’s involvement in political activism for social and economic justice in Puerto Rico and the United States throughout the twentieth century. Amador focuses on the experiences and contributions of Puerto Rican social workers, care workers, and caregivers who fought for the compensation of reproductive labor in society and the establishment of social welfare programs. These activists believed conflicts over social reproduction and care work were themselves high-stakes class struggles for women, migrants, and people of color. In Puerto Rico, they organized for women’s rights, socialism, labor standards, and Puerto Rican independence. They continued this work in the United States by advocating for migrant rights, participating in the civil rights movement, and joining Puerto Rican-led social movements. Amador shows how their relentless efforts gradually shifted the field of social work toward social justice and community-centered activism. The profound and enduring impact of their efforts on Puerto Rican communities underscores the crucial role of Puerto Rican women’s caregiving labor and activism in building and sustaining migrant communities.

Emma Amador is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Connecticut, whose work focuses on Puerto Ricans, Latinas in the United States, and histories of women and gender. Her first book, The Politics of Care Work: Puerto Rican Women Organizing for Social Justice, was published by Duke University Press in May 2025. She is now writing a biography of Afro-Puerto Rican Civil Rights Activist Antonia Pantoja. Her work has been supported by fellowships from the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at CUNY, the Presidential Postdoctoral Program at Brown University, and the Ford Foundation. She has published in LABOR: Studies in Working-Class History, ILWCH: International Labor and Working-Class History, and Modern American History.