Research/ Projects

My research interests include race, indigeneity, and intersectional identities among Latin@ communities, as well as migration and (im)mobility throughout the Americas. Working through mobility and migration industry theoretical frameworks, my research teases out the interwoven complexities of race and ethnic identity, informal economies, and human mobility.

My current research project explores how indigenous ethnic identity is mobilized in transnational settings as a politicized identity and a source of solidarity to combat social and economic marginalization in migrant communities.

Smuggling/ Migration Facilitation

I’ve worked as part of an international and interdisciplinary cohort of scholars whose work challenges the human smuggling narrative. Over the past four years, we have convened at the Watson Institute at Brown University, at the VU in Amsterdam, at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, and at the University of Texas at El Paso. See presentation at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars: “Beyond Coyotes: Current Trends in the Facilitation of Irregular Migration in Latin America”

Expert Witness on Asylum Cases

Over the past three years, I have worked on asylum cases on behalf of indigenous Ecuadorian men, women, and children. Many of the cases revolve around domestic violence, discrimination, and health disparities. Being part of an academic community of scholars engaged with social justice issues around the world, I saw that there was a need to collectively share resources and knowledge about the process. In the spring of 2019, I organized a workshop at the CUNY Graduate Center and plan to host a second workshop in the spring 2020.

Dissertation Research

With the support of a Fulbright fellowship, my dissertation analyzed the history of mobility and migration among indigenous communities in southern highland Ecuador and the social and cultural transformations brought about by contemporary transnational migration. My ethnographic study covers the span of ten years and includes testimonials of indigenous leaders, migrant families and migrants themselves on the realities of migration practices and the broader impact on youth, social mobility, as well as communal practices, language preservation, and political mobilization. My research shows that indigenous migration challenges prevailing conceptions of indigeneity within the region, transnationally, and across generations. My research contributes to a growing scholarship on indigenous migration from Andean Latin America; within mobility studies and migration industry literature and provides a critical contribution to expanding human smuggling narratives.

Dissertation, “Transnational Indigenous Migration: Racialized Geographies and Power in Southern Highland Ecuador”

Granting Institution: Department of Anthropology, The Graduate Center, CUNY