Research
Keishla’s research interests include contemporary U.S. Latinx Studies and literature, Puerto Rican Studies, and Caribbean Diaspora Studies with a focus on gender, race, configurations of the body, the (maternal) body, Afro-Latinidad, communal trauma, identity, coloniality and decolonization. She was a 2019 Summer Dissertation Fellow at The Center For Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College where she completed a writing and research residency. Her dissertation research was also generously funded by Rutgers University entities: she was a 2019-2020 Rutgers University Dean’s Dissertation Fellow at The Graduate School-Newark, and she was also awarded a research grant by the Rutgers Latino Research Initiative to conduct archival research at The University of Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico’s national archives. She pursued a doctorate in American Studies to conduct interdisciplinary research and combine her passion for literature, history, and cultural studies. Her research, pedagogical practice, and social justice endeavors are foregrounded on decolonial thought and women of color feminist theory, which pushes her to do work that is inclusive and just.
Research writing
“Gendered Exile: Examining the Avian and Nautical Metaphors in Julia de Burgos’s Poetry,” Chiricu Journal, Fall 2024
“Puerto Rican Diasporic Novels: Witnessing State Violence and Contesting Freedom in Nicholasa Mohr’s Felita and Nilda,” Label Me Latina/o Journal, Fall 2022
“Memory and Revisionist Work in Daughters of the Stone: An Interview with Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa,” Centro Journal, November 2021
“Mothers of the Grand House: Race, Motherhood, & Memory in Puerto Rican Historical Fiction,” Hispanófila Journal, June 2020
Public Scholarship
As a graduate student (Spring 2018/Spring 2019), Keishla conducted collaborative research with #ProyectoPalabrasPR – a radical literacy and hurricane recovery project spearheaded by faculty from Michigan State University. During the Spring 2018 semester, they traveled to Puerto Rico to witness and document the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma and Maria on the island’s economy, population, ecology, and marginalized communities. In 2022, Keishla was a part of the Center of Puerto Rican Studies’ “Virtual Cafecito con Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa,” a part of a series featuring Puerto Rican writers and artists. This conversation is an extension of a previously published interview with Llanos-Figueroa discussing Afro-Puerto Rican womanhood, motherhood, diaspora, and representation in literature. Keishla created an oral history project, “New Jersey Latino Experiences During the Covid-19 Pandemic,” aimed at collecting testimonies during her NEH postdoc at Montclair State University. She is also currently developing, DominiRicanDH, an inter-institutional digital humanities collaborative initiative with her co-PI, Dr. Omaris Z. Zamora. It is supported by Arte Publico Press’ “The US Latino Digital Humanities (USLDH) Grants-in-Aid” program, which is funded by the Mellon Foundation. Follow the project on Twitter and Instagram: @DominiRicanDH.
upcoming and previous events
January 2026
“Bad Bunny’s Archival Arc” at Modern Language Association Conference
Toronto, Canada
November 2025
“Bad Bunny’s Archival Arc” at Women Studies Association Conference
San Juan, Puerto Rico
“Looking for Julia de Burgos: Archival Desire and Puerto Rican Memory” at American Studies Association Conference
San Juan, Puerto Rico
August 2025
“Diasporican Identity in Motion,” DiaspoRico Sala Chats at Casa Saffra
Santurce, Puerto Rico
Keishla Rivera-Lopez 