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The Series is free because of support from the NAU College of Social and Behavioral Sciences Dean’s Office and additional support from the Office of NAU’s President Dr. José Luis Cruz Rivera, and other contributors. Donations help sustain this valuable community outreach program. For more information, to join the email list, or to make a contribution, visit nau.edu/SummerSeminarSeries.

June 9: Debt, Disaster, and the Dismantling of Public Education in Puerto Rico

Since 2016, more than a third of public schools in Puerto Rico have been shuttered and the  budget of the public university system has been slashed in half. During the same period, the  island was battered by two hurricanes, an earthquake swarm, and the COVID-19 pandemic. This  presentation argues that this ongoing, extraordinary, and counter-intuitive attack on public  education is part of a broader set of profound, systemic changes that can best be explained as  the result of the powerful, synergistic combination of two forces: colonialism and finance  capitalism.

Rima Brusi, Ph.D., Department of Anthropology, Northern Arizona University