| Sumario: | This special issue examines the evolving contours of Puerto Rican diasporic life amid shifting sociopolitical, economic, and cultural conditions in both the archipelago and the mainland United States. Against the backdrop of rising xenophobia, persistent US colonial governance, and demographic transformation, the essays in this special issue collectively interrogate what it means to be Puerto Rican in the diaspora today. Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives from history, sociology, anthropology, comparative literature, and art history, contributors trace the experiences of Puerto Ricans in traditional, maturing, and non-traditional destinations across the United States, from New York and Florida to California and the Midwest. Through case studies that include migrant labor, housing and heritage preservation, museum curation, racial formation, placekeeping, and digital community-building, the volume reveals the multiplicity and fluidity of diasporic identities while foregrounding the enduring effects of coloniality. A unifying theme emerges across these works: the assertion of subaltern voices that resist erasure and reclaim cultural agency through acts of visibility, creativity, and connection. Together, these contributions expand scholarly understandings of Puerto Rican belonging and migration, offering new directions for studying diasporic subjectivities, intergenerational ties, and the sociocultural processes that bind Island and diaspora in the twenty- first century.
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