(De)tour / (Des)vío

Critical walking (work)shops of Old San juan and its sites of heritage

(de)tour is a (de)colonial exploration of Old San Juan designed for Puerto Rican youth, adults and tourists. Unlike most tours that focus on history and architecture, this pedagogical (re)route unmasks and demystifies heritage sites through a nuanced (de)colonial, (anti)racist, and (dia)logical perspective that promotes critical views of history, identity, and the tourism industry. Instead of focusing solely on the political aspects of colonialism in Puerto Rico, we seek to navigate and interrupt the coloniality of the city and its hierarchies of race, class, gender, sexuality, spirituality, and citizenship, that emanate from colonial legacies of Eurocentrism. (de)tour challenges popular (meta)narratives and romanticized (counter)narratives to appreciate and respect the opacity and complexity of the Caribbean and its peoples.

Research projects

Puerto Rico welcomes over a million cruise ship tourists every year. The island is but one more stopover on an archipelagic route of Caribbean consumption; tropical pirate fantasies full of rum, cigars, coffee, and Latin sexuality. Visitors inject billions of dollars into the Puerto Rican economy every year, yet there’s a catch. A city whose economy revolves around satisfying the visitor’s need for restaurants, bars, shops, and abundant short-term rentals, is destined to become unsustainable and inhospitable for its long-term residents. Behind the carefully curated travel ads meant to attract tourists to a strangely familiar locale, conveniently located within the United States, lies a provocative history of war, racism, and bloody repression.

Visitors looking for a simple introduction to the history of San Juan along with fun facts about San Juan’s beautiful houses, cobblestoned alleyways, and adventurous conquistadors, should probably look elsewhere. This is a (de)tour from the (de)politicized tropical hospitality of the traditional tourism industry. At (De)colonial Memory we show the visitor what we want them to see and not necessarily what they are expecting to see. (de)tour is not for everyone; it is aimed at those looking to confront and critique the political and economic implications of their visit, and for locals from the Archipelago and the diaspora interested in addressing their heritage and history through a critical lens.

Our curricula has been carefully researched and designed by a team of historians, academics, and community members who wish to share an alternate, critical and nuanced look of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico and its heritage sites. Our (de)tours have been made possible by a seed grant from the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College (City University of New York) in 2022, and the Mellon Foundation in 2024.