#PRSyllabus and the Center for the Humanities at The Graduate Center, CUNY in partnership with WNYC Studios and Futuro Studios’ new podcast La Brega:

Sancocho Live returns with a four-part virtual event series featuring reporters, sources, musicians, and artists from the new podcast La Brega, putting them in conversation with one another to discuss the making of the series and reflect on the Puerto Rican experience.

Bregar: trabajar con entrega y luchar contra las dificultades. There’s no direct translation of “la brega” in English, but for Puerto Ricans, it’s a way of life. To bregar means to struggle, to hustle, to find a way to get by and get around an imbalance of power. It’s got a creative edge, a bit of swagger; as Puerto Rican scholar Arcadio Diaz has observed, it’s a word that belongs to the underdog.

And now, “La Brega” is also a podcast series available for streaming in its entirety in both English and Spanish, using narrative storytelling, investigative journalism, and first-person reflections to reveal how la brega has defined so many aspects of life in Puerto Rico during its 120-year history as a colony of the United States. A persistent state of crisis, longstanding neglect by national leaders, and corruption in local politics have made recent events — including a 15-year recession, devastating storms and earthquakes, and deep cuts to basic services — even more arduous. What does it say about life in Puerto Rico that “la brega” is such a defining experience?

Sancocho Live invites you to listen to the episodes relevant to each week’s discussion and then join us for a discussion with the reporters and some of the interviewees of each episode. For the final week of the series, the closing event will put select musicians, artists, and creative voices behind the series in conversation with one another. Discussions will be bilingual, with participants speaking in the language they are most comfortable with. Live interpretation will be provided by the Babilla Collective, and ASL interpretation will be offered.

Each conversation will be followed by a live DJ set and virtual hangueo.