Assistant Professor
My research and writing examine modern Latin American history in a global context. I am currently working on my first book, which reconstructs the history of U.S. military basing in Latin America during World War II to reveal the origins and impact of inter-American security cooperation on domestic and international politics in the region. During the war, bases were built across the Americas in the name of "cooperation in defense," but base construction incited local battles over law, rights, culture and authority that pulled at the seams of diplomatic cooperation. Though Latin American sovereignty was preserved in principle in military agreements, local events in courtrooms, on picket lines, outside of U.S.O. clubs and inside red light districts precipitated debates over the practical meaning of sovereignty in the everyday lives of Latin Americans. Latin American leaders' efforts to balance new material incentives to cooperate with the U.S. (such as military and development aid) with popular political demands illuminate the complex political economy of security cooperation that would fundamentally shape the postwar era.
Prior to entering academia, I spent several years in Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Brazil working as a freelance translator, researcher and documentarian. Before joining the faculty at Berkeley, I was Assistant Professor of International Studies and Latin American Studies at the University of Washington, Seattle. I have received fellowships and awards from the Mellon Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, the Social Science Research Council, and the Council on Library and Information Resources, among others. I received my Ph.D. from Berkeley and my B.A. from Duke.
Education
PhD, University of California, Berkeley
MA, University of California, Berkeley
BA, Duke University
Fields
Modern Latin America, especially Brazil, Argentina, Cuba and Panama; U.S.-Latin American Relations; Latin America in the World
