Elizabeth Obregón

Elizabeth Obregón is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her primary research interests are in the role of science in racialization, and productions of ethnic and racial identities both transnationally and cross-generationally. Her doctoral ethnographic research critically explores the cultural, biological and genetic ideas that shape racialized categories, narratives of racial mixture, and racial inequality across Cuba and the U.S. diaspora. With support as an Inter-University Program for Latino Research/ Mellon Foundation Fellow, she defended her dissertation Feb. 2022. Currently she serves as Fellowship Coordinator for the Mellon Foundation/ UIC, Crossing Latinidades Humanities Research Initiative. Her work has been published in Ethnic and Racial Studies (2020) and SAPIENS (2021). As an IUPLR/UIC Mellon Researcher (2017-18) she co-edited “Mapping New Directions in Latino Research” (2018).

Elizabeth Obregón (2021) Así son los cubanos: narratives of race and ancestry, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 44:11, 2135-2153, DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2020.1823447

Elizabeth Obregón (2021).  “Confronting Anti-Blackness in ‘Colorblind’ Cuba.” SAPIENS, Sept. 2, 2021. Anti-Blackness Cuba – Confronting Anti-Blackness in “Colorblind” Cuba (sapiens.org)

Elizabeth Obregón (2018). Maria de los Angeles Torres with Cynthia Brito, Olga Herrera and Elizabeth Obregón (eds.) Mapping New Directions in Latino Research. Inter-University Program for Latino Research. Microsoft Word – EXEC SUMMARY FINAL EDIT 8-15-2018 .docx (iuplr.org)

Mentorship with two undergraduate, Latina, Anthropology students to go over ethnographic research and literature on topics of race in Latin American and U.S.;

Moderator for Second City Anthropology Conference held in Chicago, IL on March 10, 2018;

Scribe for Siglo XXI Conference on the Mapping of Latino Research held in San Antonio, TX  on May 19, 2017;

Abstract Committee Head for BARFAA conference hosted at UIC in October 2015;

Sparks Volunteer for two Mollison Elementary School students during Fall semester 2014;

Tech Assistant during Second City Anthropology Conference held at UIC in March 2014.

MA, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2015
BA, University of Illinois at Chicago, 2011

"Transnational Naratives of Race and Ancestry: on the island and the diaspora" Cuban Studies Program Graduate Student Symposium: New Voices in Cuba Studies held at Harvard University in Cambridge, MA on November 30, 2018

"Race and ancestry in Cuba and in the diaspora constructing ethnoracial identity in Miami and La Habana" Latin American Studies Association held in Barcelona, Spain on May 24, 2018.

"Transnational Cubanidades: constructing ethnoracial identity in Miami and La Habana" Second City Anthropology Conference held at UIC in Chicago, IL on March 10, 2018.

Researcher and presenter for Siglo XXI Conference on the Mapping of Latino Research held in San Antonio, TX on May 19, 2017.

"Cuban Identity: on the island and in the diaspora" La Academia del Pueblo Latino/a and Latin American Studies Research Conference held at Wayne State in Detroit, MI on April 29, 2017.