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Oh, thank you so much for this list! It’s been awesome to read your lectures over the past several months.

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Thanks for all the readings - so much to dig into.

and about this: 'I’ve found that I really enjoy doing this sort of thing (and writing syllabuses and lectures), and so I’ll be writing a future essay on my research process for an essay—then the essay itself will come out the next week.' A born teacher, I think (well, all your essays teach us, are written to do this) - and you love it!

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author

🥹🥹🥹 thank you!!!

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teaching is something you need to really love to do it well, I think - it's anxiety producing for me, but the energy you can get off that comes from the love too

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founding

I loved all of our readings, especially the ones on colonialism...such an eye opening experience...Kincaid and Walcott!

Taste Makers by Mayukh Sen is on my list to read!

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author

Can’t wait to hear what you think of his book!

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Alicia, I have finally finally finally today done something I have been meaning to do for months: I gathered together a list of all the recommendations both here, and in the food is political series!

And, as I enter each title into my list, and feel such excitement to find them and dive in as the months, and probably years pass by, I am once again v v grateful for your perpetual nerd mode (your words, not mine!! but also mine).

If I haven't said it before, thank you so much for your generosity - you are literally providing ongoing, thoughtful, thorough, needed and free (or at least extremely subsidised!) education for so many on such important matters.

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This is so great -- thanks for putting it together. I've loved this series. (Possibly because I masochistically miss being in grad school, ha.)

One related topic that I love to see you cover is how you personally grapple with being a non-Puerto Rican, white American who is not a native Spanish speaker, living in Puerto Rico. All the layers of that. I lived for almost a decade in a place with a very strong from here/not from here dichotomy (New Orleans), which I think has given me a lifelong sensitivity to the difficulty of living responsibly in a place where you will always be an outsider. Especially if you are coming in with privileges not shared with the majority of the place where you live.

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I am Puerto Rican, actually! But I certainly come to Puerto Rico from a different space. Here's a piece I wrote on identity in 2021: https://www.aliciakennedy.news/p/on-flavor

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Ah, I didn't realize that! Sorry to assume; I hadn't seen you mention it before. I am also half an ethnicity that I did not grow up with strong cultural ties to outside of food (my dad is Thai), and I think it is an interesting, complicated, under-explored space, especially when thinking about colonialism, travel, and food. So I guess my topic request still stands! :)

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