Dr R Sánchez-Rivera has a Ph.D. in the Centre for Latin American Studies at the University of Cambridge. They hold a B.A. in Political Science and History from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus and an M.A. in Regional Studies—Latin America and the Caribbean from Columbia University in the City of New York.
Research Interests
Eugenics, Racism, Reproductive Justice, Historical Sociology, Sociology of Health and Illness, Critical Race Theory, Disability Studies, Gender, and Queer/Cuír Theory
Research Projects
Current: What Happened to Mexican Eugenics: Racism and the Reproduction of the Nation
Current: The Cultural Politics of Reproduction in Latin America (alongside Dr. Rebecca Ogden, University of Kent)
Teaching
Lecture: Soc11: Histories of Race: The Science Fiction of "Race"
Lecture: Soc11: Histories of Race: The Legacies of Scientific Racism: Racial Projects, Assimilation/Segregation
Currently Supervising: Soc1-Introduction to Sociology, Soc3-Modern Societies II: Global Social Problems and Dynamics of Resistance, Soc4-Concepts and Arguments in Sociology, Soc10-Gender, Soc11-Racism, Race, and Ethnicity, Soc12-Empire, Colonialism, and Imperialism
Supervision Coordination: Soc1-Introduction to Sociology, Soc2-Social Theory, Soc3-Modern Societies II: Global Social Problems and Dynamics of Resistance, and Soc11-Racism, Race, and Ethnicity
Publications
Books
2024 Slippery Eugenics: An Intersectional Approach to the Critical Studies of Science (SAGE Publishing-MS Submitted)
2025 An Exploration of Mexican Eugenics: Racism and the Reproduction of the Nation (University of Iowa Press-Proactive Commissioning, Contract Pending for Locating Reproductive Justice: Global and Regional Perspectives)
Special Issues
2023 The Cultural Politics of Reproduction in Latin America, Bulletin of Latin American Research
Peer-reviewed Publications
2024 Sánchez-Rivera, R. & Mackenzie, S. Queering Covid. Sociology (Forthcoming)
2024 Sánchez-Rivera, R., “The Beginnings of “la locura” and its Ties to Eugenics in Mexico”, Cold Spring Harbor: Perspectives in Biology (Proactive Commissioning-Submitted)
2024 Sánchez-Rivera, R. “Mexican Eugenics and Disability After the Second Half of the 20th Century”, Legados de la Eugenesia en México y las Americas (Forthcoming)
2023 Sánchez-Rivera, R; Peña, Glorimarie. Internalized Eugenics and Hygienic Codes in Puerto Rican Trap and Reggaetón, Caribbean Studies
2023 From Preventive Eugenics to Slippery Eugenics: Contemporary Sterilizations Targeted to Indigenous Peoples in Mexico, Sociology of Health & Illness (DOI: 10.1111/1467-9566.13556)
2022 Interrogating Coloniality and Reproductive Coercion in Puerto Rico in Light of Roe v. Wade, Fieldsights: Society for Cultural Anthropology
2022 Introduction: The Cultural Politics of Reproduction in Latin America, Bulletin of Latin American Research (DOI: 10.1111/blar.13357)
2022 Dystopian Eugenics and Mestizo Futurisms in Eduardo Urzaiz’s Eugenia, Bulletin of Latin American Studies (DOI: 10.1111/blar.13395)
2021 The Making of La Gran Familia Mexicana: Eugenics, Gender, and Sexuality in Mexico, Journal of Historical Sociology, Issue 1 (DOI: 10.1111/johs.12308)
2020 The Legacies of “Race” Science, Anti-Chinese Racism, and COVID-19 in Mexico, Bulletin of Latin American Research, 39 (S1), 35-38 (DOI: 10.1111/blar.13173)
2020 “Shilling for US Empire in Puerto Rico”: The Legacies of Scientific Racism in Economic Science, The Abusable Past at the Radical History Review.
2020 Reggaetón, Trap y Masculinidades: Dinámicas sociales a ritmo del perreo combativo en Puerto Rico (Reggaetón, Spanish Trap, and Masculinities in Puerto Rico), Taller de letras in association with Tintas, Special Issue: Adiós a las Armas: Despatriarcar a América desde la cultura: 42-55
2017 Imágenes y representaciones de control de natalidad, esterilización y anticonceptivos en la prensa puertorriqueña: El Mundo, El Imparcial y Claridad de 1943 a 1974. (Images and Representations of Population Control, Sterilization Procedures and Contraceptives in the Puerto Rican Press), De Raíz Diversa-Revista Especializada en Estudios Latinoamericanos Vol.4, No.7: 101-36.
Book Chapters
2024 Eugenics and the “Coloniality of Science”. Routledge Handbook Gender and Reproduction. (Forthcoming)
2024 Sánchez-Rivera, R & Tanna, Natasha. Counterarchiving Coloniality in the Americas: Rita Indiana’s ‘After School’(Forthcoming)
2024 “Whatever…it is Only a Joke?!”: Exploring Memes, Racialization, and Discrimination in Puerto Rico during Hurricanes, Earthquakes, and COVID-19 in Internet, Humor, and Nation in Latin/x America (Forthcoming)
2019 Posicionalidades: Queerness y Eugenesia en Latinoamérica (Positionalities: Queerness and Eugenics in Latin America) in Libro de Actas: Del Otro Lao’
Academic Publications
2022 “Los legados de la eugenesia en la construcción de la belleza en Latinoamérica: Una perspectiva interseccional”, Piel Alterna: Revista Política Poética
2022 Murillo et al. “Interrogating Our White Supremacist Present: A Roundtable on Global Histories of Racial Supremacy and Reproductive Control”, NOTCHES: (re)marks on the history of sexuality
2021 Sánchez-Rivera, R. & O’ Shaughnessy A. “Disability, Decoloniality, and Displacement: Exploring Reproductive (In)Justices with the Reproductive Justice Research Network”: ReproBlog
2021 O’Shaughnessy A. & Sánchez-Rivera, R. “An Introduction to the Reproductive Justice Research Network”: ReproBlog
2021 Ogden, R. & Sánchez-Rivera, R. “Exploring reproductive politics, health, and justice in Latin America”: the ‘Cuerpa Politica’ podcast, Institute of Latin American Studies Blog
Other Publications
2018 Human Rights Violations and the Chalchihuitán-Chenalhó Land Dispute, Mexico|Politics and Security Section, Latin American News, 105-11
2017 The Structural Dynamics and Limitations of the New Policy on Disappearances, Mexico|Politics and Security Section, Latin American News, 57-62
Book Reviews
2023 Review of ‘White Philanthropy: Carnegie Corporation’s An American Dilema and the Making of a White World Order”, Estudios Sociológicos (ColMex)
2022 Review of ‘The Nigrescent Beyond: Mexico, the United States and the Psychic Vanishing of Blackness’, Afro-Hispanic Review (Proactive Commissioning)
2021 Review of ‘Parenting Empires: Class, Whiteness, and the Moral Economy of Privilege in Latin America’, Patterns of Prejudice 10.1080/0031322X.2021.1890363
Grants and Projects
2020: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Postdoctoral Fellowship, Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge
2020: Institute of Latin American Studies (ILAS), School of Advanced Study-University of London, Events Grant Scheme-Podcast Series, “The Cultural Politics of Reproduction in Latin America"
2019: Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness, Conference Travel Grant
2019: Global Challenges Research Fund, University of Kent: International Conference for “The Cultural Politics of Reproduction in Latin America”
2019: Society for Latin American Studies, Conference and Seminar Grants: Seminar Series and Reading Groups for “The Cultural Politics of Reproduction in Latin America”
2018: Faculty Research Group Support, Centre for Research in Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities (CRASSH), University of Cambridge, for “International Black Radicalism”
2018: Simon Bolivar Fund, Centre for Latin American Studies, University of Cambridge
2018: Queens’ College, University of Cambridge, Travel Grant
2017: Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness, Conference and Travel Grant
2017: Queens’ College, University of Cambridge, Travel Grant
2017: Simon Bolivar Fund, Centre for Latin American Studies, University of Cambridge
2016: Santander Mobility Grant, Fieldwork-Mexico City
2014: Dissertation Field Research Travel Grant, Columbia University in the City of New York, Fieldwork-Puerto Rico
Research Groups & Affiliations
Professional Affiliations:
Latin American Studies Association
Society of Latin American Studies
Research Groups:
Reproductive Sociology Research Group (ReproSoc)
The Cultural Politics of Reproduction in Latin America
Awards
2020: Teaching Award, Supervisor Award, Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge (2019-2020)
