research overview
- My research investigates the cultural learning and citizenship practices that occur in transnational communities, particularly among young people growing up in the Latino diaspora, between Latin American and Caribbean countries of origin and United States and European countries of settlement. In multiple sites in Central America, the United States, and Spain, I have examined how diaspora young people craft their own identities and learn to belong, participate, and work for change in multiple national communities. Along with critical ethnography, I use participatory action research methodologies to partner with diaspora youth in my research, exploring ways that the research can support their own processes of inquiry, self-definition and belonging. My teaching and research reflect my broad interest in bringing a cross-cultural comparative perspective to the study of how people build and use knowledge for social change.
