The Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies at the University of Rhode Island (URI) congratulates Dr. Hilda Lloréns for winning the first Peace Award for the URI faculty and staff. She won this award for her tireless work for human rights, environmental protection, nonviolence, and peace for the Afro-descendant communities in Puerto Rico and other places.
Dr. Lloréns is an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Marine Affairs at the University of Rhode Island. She teaches cultural, linguistic, and environmental anthropology courses. Her research and writing are concerned with understanding how race, racialization, gender, socioeconomic class, social practices of power, and structural inequalities intersect in several socio-cultural and environmental life areas. Her research interests include cultural production and national representations, migration, diaspora, and the environment and ecology in the Americas. She has written widely about these topics in academic journals and popular readership online and in print magazines. Her scholarly books include Imaging the Great Puerto Rican Family: Framing Nation, Race and Gender during the American Century (2014) and Making Livable Worlds: Afro-Puerto Rican Women Building Environmental Justice (2021). She is a co-author of the bilingual children’s book La Justicia Ambiental es para Ti y para Mí / Environmental Justice is for You and Me (2021).
In her work as an engaged scholar, Prof. Lloréns also is a contributing member of the Iniciativa de Eco Desarrollo de Bahía de Jobos (IDEBAJO), a grassroots organization in Puerto Rico’s Jobos Bay, and has focused on supporting community solar power initiatives, environmental and climate justice, and youth education and empowerment. She advocated and realized grants for electricity and clean water for the community. In addition, Dr. Lloréns volunteers with the community food gardens and environmental justice-themed summer camps for children of
affected communities.
We applaud Dr. Lloréns for her exemplary outreach and services toward human rights, nonviolence, and peace for the Afro-descendant communities in Puerto Rico and other places. Congratulations, and thank you, Dr. Lloréns!