Adrianna Oquendo (she/her), Global Studies ’23
Independent Research and Creative Projects Grant
Title: Was it always this bad? Puerto Rican Media’s Portrayal about the Debt and Energetic Crisis
Description: For the experience, I participated in the Marcha del Sol (March of the Sun), to conduct fieldwork observation about the grassroots organizations that are transforming the narrative of the energetic crisis. Moreover, I went to the University of Puerto Rico for archival research and held interviews there.
Outcomes: Social Science Fellowship Research Paper
Who was supporting you in your work? How did you work with them? Belen Fodde. My mentor helped me think through ways to make my time during my archival research more effective by developing questions and approaches as guidance for me to conduct the fieldwork. Fodde also helped me organize my field notes and how to shape them into the paper.
How has this project has been impactful or transformative — for you personally or for those this work has impacted:
This project has been impactful in many ways, but specifically in how I engage with Puerto Rican media to a deeper extent and how I have engaged with it long-term. One thing is to know it because it is a course of habit, but sitting along the people that are having these conversations, reading how the media talks about crises through ambiguity, and interviewing individuals shed light on how important it is to flag and expose the blurriness of the facts
What would you do differently? How would you advise a student who is going to do something similar?
I would time manage better. Although I did a big part of it there and the rest I have access to online, I could’ve gotten more in person mentorship.
Short summary
I conducted fieldwork and archival research in Puerto Rico – I went to Marcha del Sol and the University of Puerto Rico, both Mayagüez and Río Piedras campus