Amanda Rivera is a first year graduate student in the Department of American Studies, as well as a 2020-2021 graduate fellow at the Yale Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity and Transnational Migration. Her research interests primarily concern Latinx identity and political belonging, particularly in Puerto Rico. More specifically, she’s interested in how Puerto Ricans — both on the island and across the diaspora — perceive of themselves as both American citizens and colonial subjects amidst the island’s socioeconomic disparities, precipitated by neoliberal economic practices at the hands of the United States and worsened by the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. She is also interested in the impact of feminist political activism in Puerto Rico (seen most vividly in the successful ousting of Governor Rosselló in the summer of 2019) and the utilization of said activism to advocate for Puerto Rico’s sovereignty against the backdrop of gendered violence on the island.
Amanda received her Bachelors degree in Cultural Anthropology from Rutgers University in 2018.