Roberto Germán [00:00:01]:
Welcome to Our Classroom. In this space, we talk about education, which is inclusive of, but not limited to, what happens in schools. Education is taking place whenever and wherever we are willing to learn. I am your host, Roberto Germán, and Our Classroom is officially in session. Grace and peace, my peeps. You know I have to talk about it. Bad Bunny's halftime show gave us culture, gave many joy. It definitely sparked conversation, but it also gave us curriculum.
Roberto Germán [00:00:43]:
And I want to talk about that, because when we say culture is curriculum, this is what we mean. We don't mean adding a Heritage Month slide. We don't mean sprinkling in representation for decoration. We mean recognizing that art, especially art created by people rooted in history, carries memory, politics, identity, and pedagogy all at once. So if you watched that performance and thought, that was powerful, but couldn't quite articulate why. Let's slow it down and listen. This is coming from somebody who's not a Bad Bunny expert. I, I don't follow his music like that.
Roberto Germán [00:01:34]:
I'm not deep in the catalog, but I could appreciate the messaging, most of it. I'm not saying I align with everything, but there were things that did stand out. And so Let's unpack that. Starting in the plantation field, the plantation field wasn't aesthetic, it was historical. Sugarcane fields are not neutral landscapes in the Caribbean. Y'all know my family's from the Dominican Republic. I love sugarcane. They are sites of forced labor though.
Roberto Germán [00:02:13]:
Right? Colonial extraction and generational trauma. We're being honest. They connect to the transatlantic slave trade. They connect to African diaspora. They connect to Spanish colonialism and later US imperial control. So when that's your opening image, you're not just performing, you're remembering. Debe tirar más fotos. You're remembering.
Roberto Germán [00:02:42]:
And here's what struck me. The show didn't start with spectacle. It started with history. But it didn't stay in trauma. It moved into rhythm, into pride, into dance. And that's important because cultural pride doesn't ignore history. It carries it. That's a classroom lesson.
Roberto Germán [00:03:04]:
Ask the students what happens when a, artist refuses to let history be erased, even in entertainment. So the Puerto Rican flag wasn't a backdrop, it was a declaration. But the Rico's colonial status and complicated politically, economically, culturally charged landscape, right? That light blue variation of the flag has often been associated with resistance movements and assertions of Puerto Rican sovereignty. So when the flag appears on one of the biggest stages in US entertainment, it's not neutral. It's a reminder. We are here. We have history. We are not invisible.
Roberto Germán [00:03:53]:
And if you teach history, civics, or identity, you know this, man. Flags are arguments. They tell stories about belonging, resistance, and power. So ask the students, what is the history of that flag? What moments in, in Puerto Rican history might make that image powerful? Now you've moved from halftime commentary to historical inquiry that could exist there, even if you don't necessarily support All of the messaging that Bad Bunny puts out in his music, or all of the messaging he puts out in video and other forms, you don't have to support all of that. Okay, let's talk about the jacket. When he wore his mother's maiden name, Ocasio, that was a statement. How often do we see matriarchs publicly honored on global stages? How often do we see women's labor, especially mothers, centered instead of erased? And the 1964, the year stitched onto the jacket, anchors us in a historical context. Migration waves.
Roberto Germán [00:05:10]:
I don't know if he really meant to do this or not, but, you know, it— again, this is— it sparks a lot of conversation, right? And when we mentioned that migration waves, and you got to think economic shifts and the industrial transformation of Puerto Rico under US influence. So names matter, dates matter. Again, ask your students whose names get remembered, whose contributions get forgotten. That's historiography. And I love the fact that this is sparking so much conversation, even if some of the stuff that we're talking about may not have been stuff that he was necessarily locked in on. You, you understand what I'm saying? There was another moment in there in which Ricky Martin appeared, and it was really nostalgic. You know, some of us grew up listening to Menudo, and, you know, Ricky Martin, La Vida Loca. So there's a connection there for, for many folks.
Roberto Germán [00:06:22]:
Listening to him sing in Spanish on a massive US stage, that's not a translation, that's assertion. Language carries identity. I know as a Spanish language speaker, I felt affirmed, and I know many Spanish language speakers that I know also felt affirmed. In many US classrooms, Multilingual students are treated as needing remediation. But in this case, Spanish was the power language. And so here's an opportunity to ask the students, what happens when language is not translated for comfort? Who is centered? Who adjusts? Now you're teaching about linguistic hierarchy. And that's important because many folks don't get out of their bubble. And I've experienced some of this discomfort when I've traveled to other countries.
Roberto Germán [00:07:29]:
It presents opportunities to wrestle through some stuff, including the discomfort of not knowing another language and having to pick some of it up, pick up certain phrases to be able to engage in basic communication. But, but I think that's a good thing for us to be uncomfortable. And then the jíbaro truck, the rural farmer, it symbolizes working-class Puerto Rican identity. Centering that imagery says something clear: the nation belongs to the people who built it, not just the politicians, not just the wealthy, To the people. So when you see black and brown bodies surrounded the imagery, it becomes social commentary like Kendrick Lamar did before him. And I thought Kendrick's performance was great too, and I had a number of things to say about that last year and throughout the course of the year. And again, we, we could critique everything and we could find the positive and negative in everything, but like Kendrick Lamar's performance before him, it says a nation is its people. That's civics.
Roberto Germán [00:08:47]:
Well, you know, we don't do a great job of teaching that anymore, but that is civics and that's political theory. That's representation. Let's push a little deeper, if you don't mind, because beyond symbolism, there's context we can't ignore. Puerto Rico's debt crisis. Hurricane Maria and disaster capitalism, the PROMESA oversight board, colonial contradictions, American but not fully sovereign. Joy in that context is defiance. Celebration becomes resistance. And when some viewers were uncomfortable, that discomfort is part of the lesson— message.
Roberto Germán [00:09:32]:
Why does cultural pride from colonized communities get framed as political while dominant narratives are seen as neutral? That's critical media literacy. We having fun yet? Here's the point. If you're an educator who saw the halftime show and thought there's something here, you're right. Visual literacy, historical analysis, gender studies, language, politics, representation, class commentary, all of it. This is culturally sustaining pedagogy in real time, and it doesn't require abandoning standards. It requires expanding what counts as text because a halftime show can be a primary source. So yeah, y'all pulled up for Bad Bunny, and you could come for Bad Bunny, and that's fine, but stay for community. Stay for the reminder that culture is never random, that representation is never accidental, that joy can carry history and teaches no matter what they say and no matter what they legislate.
Roberto Germán [00:10:48]:
The truth will be told. The question is, will you be found telling it? Listen, gonna need y'all to teach the truth, lead with courage, and belong to a community that gets it. And if you're that kind of educator who sees curriculum in culture, you're already doing the work. And if you want to keep doing it alongside others, who refuse to reduce culture to decoration, you know where to find us. Until next time, my peeps, keep leading, keep loving, keep learning. Deuces. As always, your engagement in our classroom is greatly appreciated. Be sure to subscribe, rate the show, and write a review.
Roberto Germán [00:11:37]:
Finally, for resources to help you understand the inner section of race bias education in society, go to multiculturalclassroom.com. Peace and love from your host, Roberto Germán.
