Global superstar and Puerto Rican icon Bad Bunny is headlining the Super Bowl halftime show, and we refuse to let you show up without context.
Before kickoff, join Dr. Jorell Meléndez-Badillo, UConn alum, author of Puerto Rico: A National History, and the historian who worked with Bad Bunny on his Puerto Rican residency, for a deeper look at Puerto Rico’s history, its complex relationship with the United States, and the futures the Puerto Rican people envision for themselves. We’ll also explore behind the scenes of Bad Bunny’s meteoric rise, the messages in his music, and his global impact.
Come for the context, stay for the culture, and leave ready to impress your friends and family with the best Bad Bunny facts at your Super Bowl party.
Know the lyrics? Now know the history. RSVP today.
The Details
When: Wednesday, Feb. 4 | 7:00PM – 7:30PM ET
Where: Zoom Webinar
Tickets: No charge, suggested $20 donation
Featuring
Dr. Jorell Meléndez-Badillo
Author & Associate Professor of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Dr. Jorell Meléndez-Badillo is a historian of Puerto Rico, the Caribbean, and Latin America and the author, most recently, of the critically acclaimed book, Puerto Rico: A National History (Princeton University Press, 2024), translated to Spanish by Aurora Lauzardo Ugarte as Puerto Rico: historia de una nación (Grupo Planeta, 2024). He is also the author of The Lettered Barriada: Workers, Archival Power, and the Politics of Knowledge in Puerto Rico (Duke University Press, 2021) and Voces libertarias: Orígenes del anarquismo en Puerto Rico (Secret Sailor Books, 2013)
Dr. Meléndez-Badillo is also the co-editor of Without Borders or Limits: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Anarchist Studies (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013) and editor of Páginas libres: Breve antología del pensamiento anarquista en Puerto Rico (Editora Educación Emergente, 2021). I am also the co-editor of Interrogating the Future of Puerto Rican Studies, forthcoming with Duke University Press in 2026.
More recently, he collaborated with global superstar Bad Bunny in the creation of historical narratives that accompanied each song’s YouTube visualizer in DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS. He also wrote 40 historical and cultural short texts that are used in the screens of Bad Bunny’s historic residency in Puerto Rico. His work has been featured in the LA Times, Vogue, New York Magazine, Good Morning America, Univisión, Telemundo, AFP, La Nación, La Jornada, and El Nuevo Día, among many national and international outlets.
Before UW-Madison, he was a Mellon Faculty Fellow and Assistant Professor of History at Dartmouth College. He is from the capital of the Caribbean: Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.
Moderated By
Amanda Jolly
Moderator | World Affairs Council of Connecticut
Amanda is the former Vice President for Programs and Communications at the World Affairs Council of Connecticut and international nonprofit technology consultant. Amanda is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University SAIS with a Master’s Degree in Global Risk and a specialization in digital policy.
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