Current Work

Dissertation in Progress: "Racialized Cultural Capital and Inequality in Brazil." Expected Completion: May 2010
This dissertation, cofunded by NSF Dissertation Improvement Grants from the Sociology and International Programs, examines the micro-processes of racial boundary construction in tourist settings in Salvador, Brazil through interviews and participant observation. I theorize the concept of "racial capital" in order to understand how and when blackness can become a symbolic resource capable of conversion into economic capital. A comparative design allows me to test Bourdieu's hypothesis that symbolic resources reinforce existing power structures. This work contributes to cultural sociology, sociology of race, and literature on race in Brazil.