Overall my research concerns racial and inter-ethnic relations, and in particular, the role the state has played in the racial formation of contemporary Mexico and Latin America.  The focus of my work is the historical and cultural analysis of state policies towards indigenous people, policies and programs promoting intercultural relations, multiculturalism and antiracism. Since 2010 I have done applied work in the field of antiracism.  I helped found the Collective to Eliminate Racism in Mexico (COPERA), an organization that seeks to establish an observatory on racism and research collaborations between academia and activists, to promote and further the understanding and recognition of racist practices and the elaboration of an antiracist agenda in Mexico. I am also founding member of the Antiracist Action Research Network, RAIAR with members in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and USA. This network is composed of scholars, NGOs and other social organizations that share an anti-racist agenda and are interested in fostering collaborative research between academia and activists.

Currently my research  projects are:

• Towards the inclusion of Afrodescendants in Mexico´s Census 2020, PI. Professor Erika Arenas, Co-PI (UCSB) and I are conducting a project, which seeks to accomplish four goals. First, we are contributing to the Census a re?nement to the Census that would also account for racial inequality between the Afrodescendants and others in Mexico. Second, the project furthers the analysis of racial inequality and advocates for racial justice in the design of public policy. Third, we promote the inclusion of a racial perspective in the study of inequality, poverty and afro- descendant population in Mexico. Fourth, the project’s goal is to develop a methodology of statistical literacy for indigenous and Afrodescendant advocates that will empower them in the use of accurate and reliable statistical information as a tool to achieve racial justice.  Funded by W.K. Kellogg Foundation. 

• Family lines: gender, racism and livelihoods in Costa Chica, Mexico. Co-PI Dr. Monica Moreno (Cambridge). This pilot project proposes a different entry point to the study of Mexico’s black population, instead of focusing in the politics of identity and representation we are interested in the material conditions, and particularly, how are these organized (or not) around gender and ethno-racial identities. We seek to identify how racism, racial categorizations and the construction of Black, Indigenous and Mestizo identities inform women’s strategies to organize their livelihoods specifically in the Costa Chica, one of the regions considered to be the home of the largest Black population in Mexico. We propose to focus on women’s economic trajectories and those of their families in order to identify if and how these are shaped according to gender roles, sexism, racism, class distinctions and ethno-racial identities from an intersectional perspective. Our research would contribute to the unexplored study of black women in Mexico. Funded by the UCSB Development Fund and Cambridge Humanities Research Grant