Research

My research focuses on Black politics in the Americas. I examine Black public opinion and Black consciousness to determine how attitudes are influenced by the juxtaposition of national narratives of racial harmony and realities of structural racism.  My study of Black public opinion seeks to understand political participation (both formal and informal) and anti-racist activism throughout the region, with a focus in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean and the United States.  By focusing on untold and/or understudied Black realities, my research contributes new data and theorization to the field of racial politics. 

The Power of Race In Cuba: Racial Ideology & Black
Consciousness During the Revolution

2018 Winner of the Best Book Award from the Race, Ethnicity and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association & W.E.B. Du Bois Distinguished Book Award from National Conference of Black Political Scientists.

The Power of Race in Cuba creates a framework of how racial ideologies that negate the existence of racism influence racial attitudes and affect (and impede) racial progress.  The book traces the history of racial discourse in Cuba and outlines how public opinion regarding race among Black Cubans responds to this discourse.  Through original survey data of Black Cubans and interviews with Cubans of all races, including activist and artists, the book reveals the realities of Black life in Cuba.  The book emphasizes an underground critique of racism among Black people and calls for an examination beyond public activism and social movements to understand Black politics both in Cuba and in the Americas as a whole.

Black Migration Into a White City: Power, Privilege and Exclusion in Miami (With Devyn Spence Benson)

This work documents the experiences of Black Cubans throughout the United States with an emphasis in Miami to create an oral history of a group that has often been excluded from the literature on Cuban Americans.  It uncovers the Black experience in relation to housing discrimination, residential segregation, educational opportunities and racism within the Cuban community to fill gaps and compare their stories with the stories of political and economic success that characterize much of the scholarship. You can read more about the project here.

Racism and Black Public Opinion in Puerto Rico

In collaboration with the University of Puerto Rico-Cayey and Mariluz Franco Ortiz, this project uses an original survey of Afro-descendent Puerto Ricans to examine Black public opinion, experiences with racism and racial inequality.  The study represents the first project on the relationships between race, representation, partisanship and Black group consciousness on the island.