Sazón for the Soul: A Boricua Diaspora Learning Series"

"Sazón for the Soul: A Boricua Diaspora Learning Series" is a four-part virtual learning series created by and for Puerto Rican diasporic folks and their families.

Through Afro-Indigenous storytelling, skill-sharing, and collective processing, the series creates space to reconnect with ancestral knowledge and explore the histories, identities, and practices that shape Boricua life across lands.

This offering is made possible by Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO) at Hunter College’s 2026–2027 Rooted & Relational Community Micro-Grant Program. This year’s theme is “Boricuas in Relation, Black Cuerpas: Race, Body Politics & Culture.”

Sazón for the Soul is a space for Puerto Rican diasporic folks to reconnect with history, identity, culture, and ancestral knowledge across lands. We will spend time engaging in learning, reflection, and community connection.

Sazón for the Soul: "Fuego y Resistance"

Thursday, November 5th, 2026

5:00 to 7:00 PM Eastern

Virtual on Zoom

A virtual interactive workshop for Puerto Rican diasporic folks to explore resistance, history, identity, and ancestral knowledge.

"How has resistance shaped Puerto Rican identity across generations?" This workshop will explore the stories, symbols, movements, and struggles that have shaped Boricua liberation.

Together, we will look at how Puerto Rican people across the diaspora have practiced resistance in their communities and continue to carry these traditions forward.

Fuego y Resistance unpacks the history of Puerto Rican resistance from Taíno resistance to Spanish colonization and enslaved African rebellions, through the Grito de Lares, the Young Lords, Puerto Rican independence movements, and ongoing resistance within the diaspora.

Participants will:

Learn about key moments and movements in Puerto Rican resistance history
Explore the role of storytelling and cultural memory in preserving history
Hear from a Baltimore-based Puerto Rican cultural worker about local storykeeping and cultural preservation
Reflect on their own experiences and relationships to resistance
Participate in small breakout groups for conversation and reflection

No one will be turned away for lack of funds. This workshop is available on a sliding scale, with a pay-what-you-can option starting at $1. Scholarships are also available for anyone who cannot afford even the lowest contribution. Please feel free to email info@wespiritproject.org if you’d like to receive a scholarship to participate.

About the Facilitators

Tiff Joy

Tiff Joy (they/them) is W.S.P.E.R.’s Founder and Collective Community & Organizational Steward. A fat-bodied, queer and nonbinary, neurodivergent Afro-Boricua from the South Bronx and now planting roots in Baltimore City (unceded/occupied Lenape & Piscataway land). Tiff is a creative, poet, and longtime organizer.

For more than 25 years, Tiff has worked across education, environmental, racial, reproductive, healing, and queer and trans justice movements. Their work includes nurturing young leaders, designing immersive learning experiences, and facilitating intergenerational and holistic skills training.

bee

bee (they/them/elle) is W.S.P.E.R.’s Community Experiences & Wellbeing Steward. A 2nd-generation Boricuir, Two-Spirit, trans-nonbinary, disabled healing worker, bee is raised and based in the Lower Hudson Valley on unceded, occupied, and stolen Mohican and Munsee Lenape land. bee brings a healing-centered, disability justice, and community care lens to W.S.P.E.R.’s work, with a focus on creating spaces where people can process, connect, and build collective wellbeing.

Guest Speaker: Christina Delgado

Christina Delgado is a Baltimore-based photographer, designer, curator, advisor, mentor, and teaching artist. A Nuyorican transplant from New York City, she explores identity, family, homeland, and personal and cultural memory in her work.

Christina is the founder of Tola’s Room, a Puerto Rican heritage and cultural space in Northeast Baltimore. Founded in 2018 as an art therapy project following her father's passing, Tola’s Room has grown into a space for exhibitions, workshops, gatherings, and collaborations centered on Puerto Rican and Nuyorican experiences.

Through Tola’s Room, Christina works to preserve local Puerto Rican histories, honor ancestors, and create opportunities for connection and belonging. Her work exemplifies storykeeping and storytelling as forms of cultural preservation and resistance in Baltimore.

*Optional - Grief Processing Circle

Our Fears of Resistance

Thursday, November 19, 2026
5:30 to 6:30 PM Eastern
Virtual via Zoom

Workshop attendees are invited to an optional drop-in processing circle to make space for thoughts and feelings that may remain after Fuego y Resistance.

The circle takes place on November 19, a date marking the arrival of Columbus in Borikén and the igniting of centuries of resistance. This circle will use community and ritual practice to explore fears and hesitations around resistance, what makes resistance difficult to practice, and why resistance remains necessary during times of crisis.

*"Fuego Y Resistance" workshop registrants will receive a special link to rsvp for the grief processing circle*

Up Next in the Series

Raíces y Yo | February 2027
Identity across the Antilles, Blackness, and ancestry, including slavery in Puerto Rico, anti-Blackness, and honoring lineage through altar practice.

Processing Circle: Anti-Blackness within Puerto Rican Households

The Body Quiere Bomba | April 2027
Afro-Indigenous instruments and bomba y plena traditions, exploring rhythm, movement, and the body as a living archive of culture.

Processing Circle: Internalized Body Shame

The Earth is Medicina | June 2027
An exploration of ancestral plant medicine alongside Puerto Rico’s history with medical systems and the continued role of folk healing practices.

Processing Circle: Mistrust in Medical Institutions