My primary research focus on the effects of capitalist state violence and police violence among residents of low-income communities in the U.S and Latin America.
I have studied the effects of policing and police violence on residents of South L.A. and São Paulo's periphery. I examined how police violence affects residents' racial, spatial identities, their notion of citizenship, and how police construct authoritarian spaces in these areas, continuing the subordination and exploitation of low-income residents.
I argue that police and police violence play a central role in the control and pacification of surplus populations, continuing a series of practices that reproduce the hierarchical racial structure in the U.S and Brazil. Through their actions, the police constructs authoritarian enclaves, diminishing the quality of democracy in periphery areas.
My work has been published in important academic journals such as International Studies Perspectives, International Studies Review, Journal of Social Studies, as well as chapters in several Handbooks and Edited Books. I have a forthcoming book (under review) based on this research.