The arrival of over 1-million Puerto Ricans in Florida is altering Latino politics in the state. Puerto Ricans are now the second-largest Latino group and the second-Largest Latino electorate in the Sunshine State. Puerto Ricans’ migratory shift away from historic destinations in the Northeast and Midwest to the South means they have settled in a vastly different racial and political context. This presentation examines the making of Puerto Rican politics in Florida by focusing on the political experiences of Island born/raised Puerto Ricans. I draw on 75 in-depth interviews with Puerto Ricans conducted in Orlando metro during the 2016 election cycle. I find three themes explain key aspects of Island Puerto Ricans’ political transition to, how they define their political position in, and how they enact politics in Florida: 1) legacies of disenfranchised colonial citizenship; 2) negotiating stateside political contexts and (un)defining political identities; and 3) navigating political (dis)interest and (dis)engagement. I argue the experience of a colonial politics in Puerto Rico and ethnoracial exclusion in Florida converge to shape how Island Puerto Ricans do politics in the largest swing state of the U.S.
About the Speaker:
Ariana Valle is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at UC Davis. Her research and teaching intervene in (im)migration, race/ethnicity, Latina/o/x sociology, and political sociology. Her current book project, Citizenship in Contexts: How Puerto Ricans are Transforming Race, Latinidad, & Politics in Florida, draws on 112 in-depth interviews with Puerto Ricans and Latinos and ethnographic observation she conducted in Orlando metro during the 2016 presidential election. The book manuscript engages with migration, citizenship, and racialization frameworks to examine various dimensions of Puerto Rican migration, incorporation, and the making of Puerto Rican/Latino politics in Florida.
Her research is published in Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Identities: Global Studies in Power and Culture, and Oxford Bibliographies. Her public sociology has been featured in the U.S. National Library of Medicine’s Disaster Literature and is also published in the Natural Hazards Center’s Quick Response Reports series.
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