Welcome Professors Laura Gamboa and David De Micheli
Laura Gamboa, assistant professor, Political Science, has joined the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS). Her research focuses on institutions, regime and regime change in Latin America. Her book manuscript studies opposition strategies against the erosion of democracy. Using the case of Alvaro Uribe in Colombia and Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, it analyzes how opposition strategic choices and goals can decisively affect the ability of executives with hegemonic aspirations to erode democracy.
Laura Gamboa has written on a diversity of issues including corruption, congressional politics, and populism in Latin America. Some of the titles of her works are “Are all types of wrongdoing created equal in the eyes of voters?” and Latin America’s Shifting Process “The Peace Process and Colombia’s Elections”. To learn more about her work and to read her pre-published publications, please visit her website.
David De Micheli, assistant professor, Policitical Science, has joined the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS). His research revolves around interests in ethnic and identity politics, inequality, and citizenship, with a focus on Brazil and Latin America. My current book project examines how state-led efforts at educational expansion for the lower classes have reshaped and politicized racial identities in Brazil. My other research examines the causes of presidential impeachments and public trust in democratic institutions in Latin America.
David De Micheli dissertation, "Back to Black: Racial Reclassification and Political Identity Formation in Brazil.", was just awarded APSA's Best Dissertation Prize for the Race, Ethnicity and Politics Section. Article forthcoming.
To learn more about David De Micheli, click here to visit his website.