My research examines how race, racism, and racialization intersect with other marginalized identities.
Across my work, I examine how individuals experience racial identity, how meaning is made through racial ascription, and how these dynamics shape and are shaped by everyday interactions, institutions, and structures.
Fusions and Fault-lines: Puerto Rican Diasporic Experiences in Central Florida
This multi-year qualitative project examines intra- and intergroup relations and sociopolitical agency among racial minority residents in a Florida community that, at the time, had the highest concentration of Puerto Ricans in the contiguous United States. Peer-reviewed articles stemming from this work appear in Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, Ethnic and Racial Studies, and Sociology Compass.
This ongoing project examines how queer Latinx young adults and the organizations that support them navigate identity, belonging, safety, and community care in the context of heightened anti-queer and anti-immigrant policies, as well as the enduring legacy of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting.
Holding Each Other: Queer Latinx Youth, Community Care, and Resistance in Post-Pulse Florida
With Julia M. Arroyo (College of Charleston), quantitative project on ethnoracial inequalities in child welfare agencies’ efforts to sustain youths’ family relationships. Funded by the Transition-Age Youth Research and Evaluation Hub (TAY-Hub), California Child Welfare Indicators Project.
With Nicholas Vargas (University of California, Berkeley) and Ariana J. Valle (University of Califonia, Davis), complexities of Latinx racialization and (mis)alignments in educational equity. Published in Annual Review of Sociology and forthcoming in Review of Research in Education.
With Michelle Eliasson (Florida Atlantic University), Latinx immigrant experiences with policing, and attitudes towards victimization reporting. Original survey data collected.
Ongoing collaborative research
American Sociological Association (ASA)
Affiliations: First-Generation/Working Class Sociologists, Latina/o Sociology, Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Sexualities
Eastern Sociological Society (ESS)
Latin American Studies Association (LASA)
Latinx Studies Association (LSA)
Puerto Rican Studies Association (PRSA)
Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR)
Affiliation: Transition-age youth special interest group (TAY-SIG)
Southern Sociological Society (SSS)