Just in time for his Superbowl Halftime performance, the new book on Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio (better known as Bad Bunny) by Vanessa Díaz and Petra R. Rivera-Rideau, which was indexed by Southwest Humanities, is out today. The title of this work is P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance, and it is being published by Duke University Press. P FKN R charts the rise of global music icon Bad Bunny as a cultural force whose music and public presence both reflect and shape Puerto Rican resistance in the face of crisis and colonial legacies. Drawing on interviews with artists, journalists, and political figures, alongside ethnographic research, the authors embed Bad Bunny’s life and art within the social, political, and historical struggles of Puerto Rico—from widespread power outages and the devastation of Hurricane María to mass protests against government corruption. Díaz and Rivera-Rideau show how his work fits into a long tradition of blending protest and joy in music, honoring the everyday forms of resilience that Puerto Ricans enact in their lives and on the world stage. Bad Bunny’s lyrics, performances, and public actions become a lens through which the broader crisis of colonialism, identity, resistance, and belonging can be examined. By framing his art as a form of sonic resistance and a carrier of collective memory and critique, the book helps scholars rethink how popular music can serve as both archive and agent of political meaning. It also opens up new conversations about how global pop figures can embody—and amplify—local histories of struggle in ways that resonate internationally. For more information about this exciting new title, please see the publisher’s website here.
SOUTHWEST HUMANITIES 