My research focuses on language, culture, and social identities, particularly ethnicity and race. I am interested in negotiations of meaning and social identity in face-to-face interaction, particularly in intercultural contexts. My publications include Language, Race, and Negotiation of Identity: A Study of Dominican Americans and various articles and chapters on race, code switching, bilingualism, immigration, and intercultural communication.
Articles
Parental Involvement in Children’s Education: Lessons from Three Immigrant Groups (with Garcia Coll Cyntihia, Akiba Daisuke, Palacios Natalia, Bailey Benjamin, Silver Rebecca, DiMartino Lisa, and Chin Cindy), Parenting: Science and Practice (2002)
Dominican-American Ethnic/Racial Identities and United States Social Categories, International Migration Review (2001)
Communicative Behavior and Conflict between African-American Customers and Immigrant Korean Retailers in Los Angeles, Discourse and Society (2000)
Language and negotiation of ethnic/racial identity among Dominican Americans, Language in Society (2000)
Books
Book Chapters
Language, power, and the performance of race and class, Multiracial Americans and Social Class: The Influence of Social Class on Racial Identity (2010)
Language alternation as a resource for identity negotiations among Dominican American bilinguals, Style and Social Identities: Alternative Approaches to LInguistic Heterogeneity (2007)
Multilingual forms of talk and identity work, Handbook of Multilingualism and Multilingual Communication (2007)
Encyclopedia Entries
Unpublished Papers
The politics of names among Chinese Indonesians in Java (with Sunny Lie), Journal of LInguistic Anthropology (2013)
School and classroom contexts for middle childhood development in Providence and East Providence, RT (2000)
Invited Talks
Language and social boundaries, University of Michigan Ann Arbor Department of Linguistics MLK Colloquium (2008)
Meanings of Language Alternation among Dominican American Bilinguals, International Communication Association Annual Meetings (2005)
Heteroglossia or hybridity in bilingual talk--analytical construct or reproduction of monolingual ideology?, University of Massachusetts Amherst Department of Anthropology Colloquium (2004)
The local construction of indexical meanings, National Communication Association Annual Meetings (2003)