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What inspired you to conduct work on migration, urban issues, health disparities, marginalized populations, and social movements? 

We, as scholars, can study whatever we want and that is the beauty of social science and sociology in particular. You can study anything that humans do. So that could be research on how we talk about science, how we talk about life, how we talk about politics, the economy, how people talk to each other. We have a lot of freedom to do what we do. And I love sociology because you can use any method. It is a very diverse discipline with different approaches. I love that!  

Immigrants are at the hands of unjust structures, and society creates unfair relations between e.g., the U.S. and Latin America. In the U.S. there is this space to talk about collective rights to improve the state of democracy in the nation, but simultaneously a lot of Latinos in the USA don't have rights, just because they were not born here, or came to the country the “wrong way,” even if they have a job and pay taxes. This is not only a big problem for the people who are undocumented because they don't have rights. But how can we call ourselves a democracy when 3% of the population is seen as subhuman? So, part of my work is to try to change the way people think about these issues and negate stereotypes and the dehumanization of immigrants and other stigmatized groups. All so that American citizens can demand that governments do better for minorities, and thus strengthen U.S. democracy and its value of equality. In the end, it's a win-win for the U.S.A. and immigrants.  

In what ways does your work incorporate or apply social science concepts, theories, and/or methods? How do these elements contribute to the understanding of your research?

In the Immigration Lab and the Center for Latin American & Latino Studies (CLALS), we don’t use any one method or theory, in particular. We think in terms of problems, practical conundrums, and policy issues. Not knowing is the driving force of our research. We ask the questions and then find ways to incorporate the best methods to get the needed empirical data. What methods do you use? What data do you use? Well, it depends on which are the best methods to answer the research question at hand. Sometimes it is related to what data is available that can be used in imaginative ways. For example, two students and I finished a report a few days ago based on widely available data on remittances. From there we calculated that immigrants sending remittances home contributed through the gains to their employers at least 2.2 trillion dollars
so close to 10% of the U.S. GDP. That is something that can be part of the public discussion. So, the method that drove this report was a very simple mathematical exercise. It is an exercise that a sixth grader could do, and that's great because then the audience can understand it easily. The real question, which is not easy to answer, is the scale of immigrants’ contributions to the economy.

In what ways has your identity helped to shape the understanding of your work?

A lot. As a Mexican American and Latino living in DC, I am discovering much information just by living my life. I'm learning a lot about El Salvador, Cuba, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, etc., from Latin Americans living in the DMV. Speaking in Spanish and having friendships with people of other nationalities makes it easier to understand others' Latin identities. It is difficult to understand a new Latin diasporic group, even if we are all Latinos because each national culture is still different, but being Latino makes the “knowledge distance” shorter. Nonetheless, the job of a sociologist is to tell people to think twice about something that is very commonly said, something that people think is true, and be like, be careful- do we really know that? Is that really true? Questioning your own beliefs, or assumptions, or why I think what I think. Some disciplines and some classes tell you not to use “I” or “we” when writing. That you shouldn’t use the first person when you are writing. In my books and articles, I use it all the time because, yeah, at the end of the day, you are the author. Your gender, age, nationality, etc., are going to shape the way you see the world. And it's okay. At the same time, experiential and narrative knowledge should be contrasted and verified with other types of information and with formal research projects.

In what way do you believe that your research is adding to the conversation of health, risk, and societal aspects?

In the health conversation, I’m adding to the conversation about the wisdom of putting Hispanics (and other races and ethnicities) in a “box” or into a category. Hispanics are a very diverse community, so some work that I'm doing is trying to show how creating categories discriminates against people who are not considered to be in these categories. This can affect health policies and access to health care. In an ideal scenario, refining categorization can prevent readers from distorting health disparities research. This helps avoid reinforcing racial stereotypes related to genetics and disease and the biological-centric approaches that overlook the broader social, economic, environmental, and political factors impacting health outcomes. I'm trying to add a theoretical discussion to that conversation.

Then, when it comes to risk, it's something very interesting. I have a book I am working on out of the Critical Social Thought class that I have taught for many years; in that class, we have an ongoing topic theme about how people in the U.S., regardless of origin, tend to try to control everything. We often assume that we can plan for the future and that we can have expectations about the future. That trajectories are linear and can be planned. However, social things are random and unexpected, and we cannot plan them. We have to remember though that a plan is just a guess and approximation. Getting to risk is related to the tendency that we have to think we know what will happen. The pandemic was a great example because it forced us to see that many things are out of our control and are completely unexpected. The pandemic showed us that suddenly we may have to change our everyday life routines. It again became obvious that we depend on other people for things like food. I was hoping that after the pandemic, people would be less determined in planning and forecasting. It’s this teleological thinking that you are going to arrive at this perfect destination soon or eventually, but it's not the case. It is a back-and-forth process. For example, two steps further and then one step back for people's rights, then three steps back. It is not a linear trajectory. Sociologists should be able to understand non-linear trajectories, and that is why it is important that in CHRS, there is that part about risk in the name and approach. It is also about the different probabilities of some illnesses happening to particular demographics.

What advice would you give to a student who wants to conduct research on the areas of your expertise?

That's an easy answer for me, and I tell everybody about it. The best, and maybe the only way to know how to do research, is to do it and revise and do some more research. Not just to take method courses, but to actually get engaged in a research project. And it is not the research that is done for a “research paper” for a class. That is not the type of research that professors are doing for a living. We do much more engaged research, one that is often done in teams, done collectively, sometimes co-authored. It goes through cycles of peer review. A lot of people critique it before it is allowed to see the day of light. So, I invite anybody who is interested, regardless of academic background and existing expertise, to come to work with us in CHRS as well as in the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies or the Immigration Lab.

How to do research is very hard to learn in the abstract. Most people learn it the hard way, such as in a doctoral program, by trial and error. Or once they're in the first job, and failing and feeling bad and thinking, “Oh, I wish somebody had told me that that is the way to do it.” That is the way we do research at the lab and the masters in sociology (SORP). Rather than me talking to you and lecturing about how it should be done, you are part of a team struggling through the research process and receiving and providing continuous feedback. You are not so much my research assistant; you are part of a big team that is doing work over many semesters, and that work may become a book, an article, or a report that maybe one day the media is going to cover because it addresses a problem of general concern in an original and useful manner, reframing the conversation in more productive ways.

Can you share a little about your journey into anthropology and global health?

Reflecting on my journey, my experiences migrating to the United States at a young age marked my perspectives of the United States and the world. In the beginning of my undergraduate career, I was primarily interested in medicine and health, but found that my courses were pulling me toward the social sciences. Specifically, I as learned of the ways that social environments influence health. My post undergrad experience working with individuals impacted by the HIV epidemic before ARTs in Sub-Saharan Africa, inspired me to make an impact through public health. My foundational experiences in academia, program management, and the government have been crucial in shaping my interdisciplinary approach. My own experiences as well as my research and professional endeavors in cultural and medical anthropology continue to inform my perspectives and methodologies.  

How does your perspective on power and subjectivity influence your research and work in cultural and medical anthropology?

My research focuses on vulnerable and marginalized communities, but also extends beyond that. There has been a notable shift in research in the field of anthropology, considering that the focus has moved away from examining populations in isolation. For example, some of my research has also explored people who have decision making power that dictates the social conditions we have, compared to solely exploring the experiences of the marginalized. My work in HIV has revealed that it has a lot to do with institutional power, similar to how migrant work is about how health outcomes are shaped by capitalism and the influence of the state. It is important to acknowledge how these social conditions are created, making both analyses [of people in power and the marginalized] essential to a clear understanding of what is happening.

What is your primary discipline and how would you explain the issues that your scholarship and projects aim to understand?

My work is highly interdisciplinary, drawing from cultural and medical anthropology, public health, and global health. My primary focuses are on infectious disease, migrant and refugee health, and environmental-policy related work which examines environmental health disparities. A large portion of my research often examines the health outcomes of populations that are overlooked which encompasses migrants, refugees and Black immigrants living with HIV.  

Can you share the nature and scope of your current projects? What does your work in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, look like at the moment?

I originally moved to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 2019 to conduct social science work. There, I initially examined the influence of climate change on food, nutrition, and public health within the region. Today, I am still living and working in Ethiopia through the U.S. Department of State. Since 2019, my work has shifted as I am now a refugee coordinator, coordinating the U.S. refugee response for Sudan and South Sudan. While rapid climate change continuously impacts the work I do here, I primarily deal with issues regarding conflict and displacement within the region. At AU, I am a professor in the Department of Anthropology and also collaborate with colleagues in the School of International Service. 

What is your favorite part about the work you do?

My favorite part of my work is talking to people. My work requires me to interact with policy makers in Washington, DC and Addis Ababa. I draw strength from speaking with refugees in Ethiopia and South Sudan. My research is based on my commitment to lived experiences and fostering meaningful relationships. This is not just work, these experiences I work with are very close to my own life. There is a familiarity between my own and their [refugees] experiences. For some, personal and professional lives are very different, but not for me. Experiential learning doesn’t make life easier, but I recognize that my perspective enriches my work in academia and everyday life.