I pursue two types of research. One is interested in economic justice by looking at concepts and practices of the laws of agreements and partnerships. I investigate this issue in both colonial and contemporary contexts with a bend toward social justice. I am therefore interested in the ways in which minorities and women are economically displaced or empowered in government contracting. I am also interested in the ethics of transformation beyond politics. This research track is my humanistic hat where I consider questions of identity and belonging from queer perspectives, meaning the perspectives of subjects and things deemed 'out of order'. The impact of my work has been in providing theoretical frameworks for the analysis of queer subjectivities and to providing a critique and pathways to governmental and intergovernmental institutions working on governance and social inclusion in economic development.
keywords
public-private partnerships, government contracting, gender, sexuality and politics, indigenous cosmologies and ethics, womanist ethics, queer studies, colonial economic history
Teaching
courses taught
ETHN 2304 - Introduction to Social Justice
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2023 / Fall 2024
Provides undergraduate students with an understanding of how social systems, primarily the educational and health care systems, are key to understanding injustices and criminalization. Topics covered will include trauma and victimization, food and housing justice, educational justice, physical and mental health justice, mass incarceration, #BlackLivesMatter and restorative justice.
ETHN 4102 - Special Topics in Africana Studies
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2022 / Spring 2023 / Fall 2023
Variable topic that allows intensive coverage of a subject, theme, or issue in African American studies. May be repeated up to 9 total credit hours on different topics. Same as ETHN 5102.
ETHN 5102 - Special Topics in Africana Studies
Primary Instructor
-
Fall 2022 / Spring 2023 / Fall 2023
Variable topic that allows intensive coverage of a subject, theme, or issue in African American studies. May be repeated up to 9 total credit hours on different topics. Same as ETHN 4102.
ETHN 6101 - Topics: Specialized Comparative Studies
Primary Instructor
-
Spring 2024
Focuses on a variety of advanced interdisciplinary studies. Themes include: Race and Sports, Critical Whiteness Studies, Race and Masculinity, Applied Community Engagement, Black Women in the Diaspora, US/Mexico Border Cultures, Criminalization and Latinas/os, Race, Violence and Film, and Cuba and Tourism. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Recommended requisite: ETHN coursework.
ETHN 6301 - Decolonial/Postcolonial Theory
Primary Instructor
-
Summer 2023 / Summer 2024 / Fall 2024
Offers an overview of the origins and evolution of Decolonial/Postcolonial Theory. Critically compares and contrasts decolonial discourse with postcolonial theory. Exposes students to the ways in which decolonial and postcolonial theory conceptually interconnect via Cultural Studies, Critical Race Studies and Ethnic Studies-derived discourses such as racial colonialism, the critique of European imperialism, transnationalism feminism, Indigeneity/Indigenous Studies, Diaspora Studies and Subaltern Studies.
