Natalia’s research has primarily involved the dynamics of displacement in and within Latin America. Currently, she is working on her British Academy-funded Postdoctoral Research Fellowship with the project entitled 'Racial Politics of Forced Displacement in Latin America'. The project proposes to explore how colonial and postcolonial constructions of racial difference have historically shaped migratory and asylum policies in Brazil, Mexico, and Chile, and their continuing legacy today in South-South corridors of migration. This focus thus breaks new ground in the emerging literature on the race-migration nexus which focuses mainly on South-North mobilities. The project investigates the histories of racialisations of migratory and asylum frameworks, and the impacts of a racialised politics of asylum and migration on mobility rights and on the access to international protection for black forced migrants in the region. To do so, it combines archival analysis with qualitative analysis of Haitian and Sub-Saharan migrants’ forced mobility experiences to, and within, Latin America. This project follows on Natalia's PhD research on antiblackness in asylum systems in Brazil, as well as on her work as a Research Fellow in the ESRC-funded ReGHID research, which studied the forced displacement of Venezuelan women to Brazil and Colombia, and of Central American women to and through Mexico, particularly regarding how border policies, humanitarian programmes, migration status and socio-economic conditions impact their access to healthcare and to live with dignity as migrant women. You can find all her publications here:
