Credentialed Course Instructor
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Research and Teaching Interests:Japanese language, culture, and literature; Afro-Japan relations; hip-hop and jazz in Japan; anime and manga; critical race and identity studies; Okinawan and Ainu culture

Office Hours: By appointment

• A.A. Montgomery College at Rockville, Montgomery Scholar’s Program, General Studies
• B.A. University of Maryland - College Park, Japanese Language and Literature
• M.A. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Japanese Language and Literature
• Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Japanese Language and Literature

As a D.C.-raised global citizen with roots in Cuba and Spain and my heart in Japan, race, identity, and hybridity have been a constant point of interest. My love of Japanese language and culture was sparked at thirteen-years-old and was developed through many years of self-study and two years of study abroad at Keio University in Tokyo and the Inter-University Center (IUC) in Yokohama. Ever since, I have been dedicated to spreading my fascination with Japan, while negotiating my delicate position as someone very much in-between cultures. Both my dissertation and passion projects put Japanese identity and racial homogeneity into question while encouraging a more nuanced examination of how “Japaneseness” is constructed through popular literature and media.