Mission Statement

As a scholar I plan to interview both employers and employees to understand the relationships built between them. I also aspire to get a grasp of how epistemic racism, identity markers, and the colonial past, moderate the expectations and demands of employers and employees. By interviewing employers, I plan to investigate which stereotypes of Latin Americans or of specific national or ethnic collectives are the most pervasive. My goal is to inquire into how these stereotypes, essentialist at times, impact the lives of the Latin American immigrant community here in Madrid. In a similar vein, I am interested in exploring how epistemic racism, revealed in the conceptualization locals may have of Latin America and the Caribbean, impacts the relationship between Spaniards and Latin Americans. Conversely, I also plan to acquire knowledge about how Latin Americans are taught to think of Spain and the European continent more broadly. This is to say, I would like to understand how the epistemic communities’ Latin Americans come from may help perpetuate hegemonic discriminatory thoughts and practices. Lastly, working for SEDOAC this summer I hope to acquire a better sense of how immigration to very heterogeneous urban spaces allows for people to suddenly feel themselves part of the same big phenomenon. In other words, I hope to learn how the “latino” is constructed.

I plan to develop my communication skills during this Fellowship. I hope to acquire enough information about the migration process of Latin Americans and the political, social, and economic circumstances that made them decide to create a new life abroad. I hope to improve my communication skills so I can share this content knowledge and effectively argue with people on the other side of the table.