Research

My research deals primarily with race, gender, and socialization in families.  Through my work, I examine how Black families respond to racial hierarchies and racism.  The questions that drive my research center around understanding the following themes:  In what ways do racial features impact affective exchanges and socialization in families? How do families both reproduce and resist racial hierarchies through socialization practices? In what ways are Black researchers positioned to negotiate some of the same dynamics that they study?  My intellectual inquiry is invested in uncovering the understudied elements of racialized experiences and exposing the way that white supremacy and racial systems orchestrate people’s lives.  Though most of my recent work is based in Brazil, the findings about the importance of racial features to socialization and emotional experiences has implications far beyond Black families and beyond Brazil.  Moreover, my most recent work on informal labor has direct implications for recent domestic labor policies in Brazil and also human trafficking in Florida.