Ph. D. University of California,
Los Angeles
Assistant Professor
Research Emphasis:
Transnational Migration,
Impacts of Immigrant Remittances in Latin America,
Latino Immigration to the U.S.
Specific Research
Endeavors
My research focuses on how international migration and changes in the
global political economy affect local socio-economic dynamics in the Latin
American region. I use case studies of contemporary issues to illustrate how
larger global processes such as changing international geopolitics, the decline
of international foreign aid, and the increase in individual migrant remittances
impact specific social groups such as racial minorities and women. My previous
research examined the constraints and opportunities faced by returned Guatemalan
refugee women as they sought to continue the empowering political activity
they had begun in Mexican refugee camps. In my dissertation research I examined
livelihood strategies at the household level in Havana, Cuba, as the increase
in remittances and informal economic activity has impacted differentially
previously high levels of socio-economic equality.
I plan to extend my research on the socioeconomic impacts of remittances and return migration in Cuba through comparative work in the Dominican Republic. The international influence of remittances on local issues of race equality and an increasing informal economy are important issues in the Dominican Republic as well as in Cuba. This comparison would allow an examination of the extent to which individual states are able to manipulate global processes to ultimately control their domestic social agendas.
Another area of future
research is to explore the transnational economic behavior of Mexican and
Central American migrants and how strategies of migration and remittance sending
shift in relation to global economic restructuring and state policy.
