Oral History Lab: Climate Justice Storytelling in Puerto Rico

Project Summary

Following devestating hurricanes in Puerto Rico, UPR-Mayagüez established an oral history project where students collected over 100 climate justice stories, which evolved into the NEH-funded Oral History Lab that produces books, exhibits, and documentary films addressing environmental racism and colonialism while building university-community partnerships.

Detailed Story

Professors at UPR-Mayagüez initiated an oral history project, training students to ethically record interviews related to climate justice within the contexts of environmental racism and colonial practices. Students collected over 100 stories that have been transformed into multiple public-facing outputs, including the book “Mi María: Surviving the Storm, Voices from Puerto Rico” with a free bilingual curriculum, a contribution to the international “Climates of Inequality” exhibit, the children’s book “Maxy Survives the Hurricane,” and a children’s book exhibit with resources for teachers and librarians. The project adapted to address the earthquake swarm beginning in 2019 and the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the 2022 establishment of the NEH-funded Oral History Lab @UPRM—a collaboration between the Department of English, University Library, and Film Certificate Program. This interdisciplinary approach enables comprehensive storytelling from interviewing through preservation and dissemination. The work continues through oral history and documentary filmmaking courses where students document relevant stories from their home communities, while expanding to university-community partnerships developing high-tech, low-tech, and no-tech climate communication outputs.

Impact Statement

Created a permanent infrastructure for documenting climate justice stories; trained 100+ students in ethical interviewing; produced a book, children’s book, curriculum materials, exhibits, and films; established ongoing university-community partnerships; addressed colonial contexts of environmental disasters; and developed multi-format climate communication strategies.