Participant Info

First Name
Shakti
Last Name
Castro
Affiliation
Independent Scholar
Website URL
https://wiselatinahustle.com/
Keywords
Puerto Rican studies, Latino studies, Latinx studies, Urban History, Caribbean Diaspora, Harm Reduction, Public Health, Public Policy, Advocacy, Caribbean history
Additional Contact Information

Personal Info

Photo
About Me

I’m a public historian and harm reduction advocate, skilled at community engagement and dedicated to creating inclusive and welcoming experiences through culturally sensitive exhibitions and public programming in and out of museums and historic sites.

As a graduate student, I contributed digital content to the Humanities Action Lab project, States of Incarceration: A National Dialogue of Local Histories and worked closely with the recently established UMass Oral History Lab. I also helped create an oral history project to document the Puerto Rican and Latinx history of Holyoke, Massachusetts during my time as a graduate intern at Wistariahurst Museum. Most recently, I received a competitive graduate fellowship through the Smithsonian Latino Center and spent summer 2017 working in the MedSci division of the National Museum of American History. Prior to my graduate training, I worked as an oral historian and research assistant at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at CUNY, conducting over 30 oral history interviews. I hold a B.A. in English literature and Media Studies from Hunter College and a Master’s in History with a certificate in Public History from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

My current position at BOOM!Health builds on my summer research at the Smithsonian on opioid use, harm reduction, and drug policy reform. As Community Engagement Coordinator at BOOM!’s Harm Reduction Center,I am exploring how public historians can serve communities outside of traditional public history settings.

My writing has appeared in La Respuesta, Warscapes, LatinoRebels, Public History News, and the Women in Higher Education newsletter. I have given talks at the CUNY Graduate Center, Binghamton University, and conferences for the Puerto Rican Studies and Oral History Association.

Recent Publications
Media Coverage
Country Focus
United States
Expertise by Geography
Caribbean, United States
Expertise by Chronology
20th century, 21st century
Expertise by Topic
Colonialism, Migration & Immigration, Museums, Public History, Race