Mérida M. Rúa

Mérida M. Rúa

Office Hours (Spring 2019): Wednesdays from 10:00-12:00 pm and by appointment

Areas of Expertise

Puerto Rican Studies & Latina & Latino Studies
Urban history & urban ethnography
Comparative race, ethnicity, & diaspora
Aging, Social Networks, & Spatial Practices
Place, Citizenship, & Belonging

Scholarship/Creative Work

Books and Edited Volumes

Shouldering Age in the Big City: Crónicas of Puerto Rican Migrations to Elderhood (in progress)

Critical Diálogos in Latina and Latino Studies (co-editor with Ana Yolanda Ramos Zayas, in progress)

A Grounded Identidad: Making New Lives in Chicago’s Puerto Rican Neighborhoods (Oxford University Press, 2012)

Latino Urban Ethnography and the Work of Elena Padilla (editor, University of Illinois Press, 2011)

Articles and Book Chapters

“‘Our Interests Matter’: Puerto Rican Older Adults in the Age of Gentrification,” co-authored with Ivis Garica. Urban Studies Online First (November 2017): https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098017736251.

“Aging in Displacement: Urban Revitalization and Puerto Rican Elderhood in Chicago.” Anthropology & Aging 38, 1 (2017): 44-59.

Co-author with Arlene Torres, “Introduction: At the Crossroads of Urban Ethnography and Puerto Rican Latinidad.” In Latino Urban Ethnography and the Work of Elena Padilla (University of Illinois Press, 2011).

“Footnotes of Social Justice: Elena Padilla and Chicago Puerto Rican Communities” In Latino Urban Ethnography and the Work of Elena Padilla (University of Illinois Press, 2011).

Co-author with Lorena Garcia, “Processing Latinidad: Mapping Latino Urban Landscapes through Chicago Ethnic Festivals.” Latino  Studies, 5, 3 (2007): 317-339.

“Colao Subjectivities: PortoMex and MexiRican Perspectives on Language and Identity.” Centro: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Special issue on Puerto Rican Chicago 13, 2 (2001): 117-133.

Encyclopedia and Online Entries

Co-authored with Carmen Whalen, “Puerto Ricans,” Oxford Bibliographies Online: Latino Studies, edited by Ilan Stavan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016).

Co-author with Arlene Torres, “Urban Anthropology.” Oxford Bibliographies Online: Anthropology, edited by John L. Jackson (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012).

“Elena Padilla.” Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States, edited by Deena González and Suzanne Oboler (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005)

“Latinidades.” Oxford Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States, edited by Deena González and Suzanne Oboler (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005)

Professional Affiliations

Latina and Latino Studies Association
Puerto Rican Studies Association
American Studies Association
New England Consortium of Latina and Latino Studies
Association for Anthropology, Gerontology, and the Life Course

Thesis students:

Eduardo Ávalos, “Negotiating Neighborhood Change: Utopias and Spatial Reclamations in Boyle Heights,” Latina and Latino Studies, Spring 2017.

Maya Y. Dennis, “As American as Apple Pie, Platanos, and Collard Greens: Baseball Revisited, (Re)told, and (Re)imagined,” American Studies, 2012-2013.

Andrea M. Lindsay, “Exploring the ‘Real Definition of Local’: Food Justice Activism in Los Angeles,” Latina and Latino Studies, Fall 2012.
Sabrina Howard, “Doing Business with Racial Uplift,” American Studies, 2011-2012.
Emily R. Schwab, “English for the Parents: The Marginalization and Silencing of Language Minority Parents in Massachusetts’ Bilingual Education Debate,” Latina and Latino Studies, Spring 2012.
Luz Gómez, “Golden Cages: An Ethnography of Acatlán de Juárez, Jalisco, México and its ‘Hijos Ausentes,’1986-2008,” Latina and Latino Studies, Spring 2008