The support I received from the CLACLS Summer Research Travel Fellowship allowed me to travel to San Juan, Puerto Rico to conduct preliminary archival research at the Puerto Rican Collection of the José M. Lázaro Library (University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus). I am currently a third-year doctoral student in Cultural Anthropology at the CUNY Graduate Center. My research focused on coffee consumption in Puerto Rico, particularly looking at transformations that the agrarian system experienced during the New Deal Era, and the creation of the “Coffee Program” under the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (PRRA). I consulted the periodicals collections at the UPR, primarily focusing on the newspapers El Mundo, La Gaceta de Puerto Rico, El Nuevo Día, and The San Juan Star. The collection indexes and auxiliary descriptive guides available at the UPR Library, facilitated the opportunity to narrow down the historical time frame of my research. One of the preliminary findings of this archival research was that, thanks to one of the librarians, I was pointed to a new source that I didn’t know existed: “La PRRA según la prensa”, a compilation of all the news articles that were published during the New Deal era in Puerto Rico. This source allowed me to narrow down my identification of articles to only those that reflected on agriculture and the “Coffee program” during this historical period. This archival research at the UPR is part of a broader project that began in the Spring 2019 at the National Archives in New York City, in which I was conducting research using the documents of the Puerto Rico Reconstruction Administration (Record Group 0323) as part of the Anthropology graduate course “Latin America: Seminar on Research Methods and Sources.” The opportunity to use the resources available at the UPR allowed me to identify parallels between contemporary agricultural and commercial projects in the Island, such as government-sponsored initiatives (small businesses, and small farms), which connects to my current dissertation project on coffee culture in Puerto Rico.

During the Summer of 2020, the COVID-19 Pandemic changed everything–including our projects, well-being, and the type of work that we do as student researchers. With the generous award from the 2020 Research Travel Fellowship from the Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies, I was able to stay inNew York City (and partially subsidize my rent) during the pandemic and recalibrated certain sections of my project. My plans changed, since I couldn’t continue my pre-fieldwork research in person, which included participating in the scheduled training program at the Escuela de Café y Baristas de Puerto Rico. This barista training program would have allowed me to familiarize myself and gain rapport with one of the community sectors of this food industry in Puerto Rico. Having stated the limitations and last-moment changes in my research calendar, I participated in virtual sessions of the barista training program, along with continuing archival research with sources available in remote databases, along with refining sections of my dissertation research proposal, including preparations for my Second Doctoral Exam. Some of the aspects that I am rethinking of my research, particularly in the methodological aspect, is the integration of digital approaches, such as: social media analysis, remote interviews, and further exploration of archival resources that are available digitally.