Biography

My research and writing interests are highly interdisciplinary, and are both literary and anthropological. My interest in comparative post-colonial studies arises from my background as a native Puerto Rican who was raised in the United States, but who has studied and traveled across the world.

The experience of being a Latina Caribbean islander abroad made me better understand the parallels of immigration and dual identity from the comparative perspective of what would be my métropole as a Puerto Rican (New York) and the métropoles of the majority of Caribbean islanders (Paris or London). Having also spent much time in Madrid and Paris, I learned that the relationships that Spain and France held vis-à-vis their North African immigrants were very different, with parallel yet unique legacies of colonialism. I also found that there exists a shared sense of what it means to be an immigrant with multiple identities that may be witnessed and traced globally. That is why examining transnational identities across regions and Diasporas. It is not only a research dilemma, it is a part of who I am.

My book, "Immigration, Popular Culture, and the Re-Routing of European Muslim Identity," published by Palgrave Macmillan, explores contemporary North African immigration to Spain and Europe through the analysis of novels, film, and hip-hop produced by and about immigrants. In the book, I define and examine cultural production through the lens of the Traslado, a working term that I use to trace the translation and transfer of cultural memory and national identity through a focus on immigrants who have been moving between and transcending national spaces.

I hold a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in Romance Languages (with an emphasis in Spanish), an MA from NYU in French, and a BA in Spanish and French from Dartmouth College. I have been widely published in academic journals, periodicals, and magazines about cross-cultural immigrant dynamics, transnational identities, global politics, and women’s issues.

Specializations

• Immigration, transnationalism, and cross-cultural identity creation
• Hip-hop as a tool for societal and identity-based contestation and affirmation
• Exchanges between Hispanic and Francophone post-colonial texts
• North African literature, culture and society
• Comparative women, gender and border studies across regions, nationalities
• Popular culture, contemporary film, and social media in North Africa and Latin America