B.A., Vassar College, 1995 | M.A., Vassar College, 2003

Entered in 2004. Connie works in the fields of the Anthropology of Law and Policy, Legal Anthropology, and Transnational Feminist Studies. Connie's dissertation research is with a transnational network of policymakers who wrote a federal gang policy: The United States Strategy to Combat Criminal Gangs from Central America and Mexico. She will conduct her dissertation fieldwork in Los Angeles, Washington DC, Guatemala City, Tegucigalpa, San Salvador, and Mexico City in 2009-2010, by mapping the history of the problematization of two specific gangs, Mara Salvatrucha and the 18th Street Gang, which are now targets of this federal-level transnational policy. Connie has worked professionally conducting ethnographic research about so-called Central American gangs in the Washington DC area and writing a Resource Manual for attorneys working on gang-related asylum cases with the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), a non-profit, human rights organization that works to influence U.S. policy toward Latin America. She is also a member of the Transnational Network for the Study of Youth Gangs, which is housed at the Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM). Connie has received support for her research from the National Science Foundation's Division of Law and Social Science Dissertation Improvement Grant, the UC Institute for Mexico and the United States (UC MEXUS) Dissertation Research Grant, the UC Regents Pre-dissertation Research Fellowship, the UC Regent's Early Career Fellowship, and UCI's Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies (GPACS) and Department of Anthropology. Connie also holds a Master's degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas, Austin and a BA in Sociology from Vassar College. In her spare time, Connie challenges herself training for and competing in sprint and olympic distance triathlons.

 

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