Elena Sabogal is a Visiting Scholar at Rutgers University with the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS).
Dr. Sabogal holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from Florida International University. Her work focuses primarily on the fields of migration and community studies with a particular emphasis on gender, social class, and generational dynamics. Her current research explores the roles that immigrants have played in shaping the cultural, economic, religious, and social landscape of the city of Paterson leading to its vibrant multicultural identity today. Through her work, she brings attention to the largely overlooked voices and contributions of Latinas in the past and how in recent years they have been able to place themselves in positions of power and influence.
Recently retired from William Paterson University, she served as a faculty member in the Departments of Women’s and Gender Studies, Community and Social Justice Studies, and the Latin American and Latino Studies Program. Her work was student-centered and focused on advocacy for the Latinx community on campus. As one of the founding members of the Coalition for Immigration Justice, she led a faculty initiative to support undocumented students and workers on campus. She also led the Latinx Faculty Caucus, a group that sought to bring concerns regarding issues of representation, equity, and justice to the attention of the administration.
Throughout her tenure at WPU she held numerous roles including Director of the Latin American and Latinx Studies Program, Chair of the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, and was a member of various advisory boards such as the Paterson Metropolitan Region Research Institute, the Gandhian Forum for Peace and Justice; and the HSI Task Force among others.
Dr. Sabogal co-authored Multi-Ethnic Miami: Immigration and the Rise of a Global City and is the author of several articles about Peruvian and Latin American migration to South Florida. Her most recent work, “Forgotten Voices: Gender and Social Networks in Paterson’s Peruvian Community” is set to be included in the upcoming book Latinos in New Jersey edited by Dr. Aldo Lauria Santiago and Dr. Ulla Berg to be published by Rutgers University Press.
Research interests: Latin American Migrations, Latinx Diasporas in the United States, Urban and Community Studies, Women’s and Gender Studies, Contemporary Peruvian Studies, Andean Studies, Identities and Inequalities, Latinx Inclusion.
Jennifer A. Cárcamo is a Visiting Scholar at Rutgers University with the Center of Latin American Studies (CLAS), as well as a PhD Candidate in the UCLA History Department. She is a social movement historian with a special interest in the contemporary transnational history of mass organizations and political movements within, across, and outside of Central America/Mesoamerica. Her dissertation research currently focuses on the origins and evolution of communist parties and socialist movements in Central America from 1920-1960. She is particularly interested in the ways these parties and movements frontally opposed fascism in Central America through transnational organizing efforts that centered international solidarity as well as actively involved women and afro indigenous communities. As a result, over the past two years she has successfully conducted archival research in Cuba, Mexico, Russia, and El Salvador with the generous support of various academic institutions.
Research Interests: Social History of Central America; Central American Revolutions; Contemporary Latin America across race, class, and gender; Radical traditions in 20th century Latin America; Communist and socialist movements; Central Americans in the U.S.; Critical Refugee Studies; Migration Studies; Latin American Film and Cinema.
Service & Films: Cárcamo was also recently elected as the student representative for the Executive Committee of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA) and appointed the student representative of the Central American Studies Section of LASA. As an independent filmmaker, Cárcamo is also known for her documentaries Children of the Diaspora: For Peace and Democracy (2013) and Eternos Indocumentados: Central American Refugees in the United States (2018). To date, both films have premiered in the United States, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Cuba.
