Department of Spanish and Portuguese

My research engages the intersections of Latina/o and Latin American literary and cultural studies, border studies, political theory, Marxism, psychoanalysis, and philosophy. The work I do is theoretically driven and seeks to critically engage with the conceptual bases that underpin scholarship in the fields in which I work. My first book, Universal Citizenship: Latina/o Studies at the Limits of Identity (University of Texas Press, forthcoming 2019), reconceptualizes the notion of universal citizenship as a pivotal concept in theorizing egalitarian politics. The book begins from the assertion that Latina/o and ethnic studies continue to be dominated by identitarian and legalistic conceptions of citizenship, nation, and political subjectivity. It formulates alternatives to these conceptions by highlighting moments of unlicensed citizenship from the perspective, and with the participation, of those denied legal recognition of citizenship and situated at the margins of national belonging. Drawing from the philosophy of Alain Badiou, the book focuses on processes of generic politics where a political collective is constituted on a subjective basis that cuts across established categories of identitarian difference. It develops this argument through close analyses of a range of literary, cultural, and legal texts (including narrative, poetry, political writings and speeches, newspapers, protests, state and federal legislation, immigration and criminal law, and legal testimony) as they pertain to instances where the limits of political belonging are the object of contention.

Additionally, I have written articles investigating the relationship between political economy and cultural production; the capitalist production of space and place; drug violence; labor organizing; immigration and border enforcement; and the politics of sanctuary. Given my interdisciplinary research interests, I am also affiliated with the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS), Latino Studies, Cultural Studies, and American Studies.