Research

Latin American Diaspora in the UK

School of Advanced Study, Annual Report 2018

Case Study, School of Advanced Study, University of London

At the crossroads: engaging with South London’s Latin American community

Engaging with the Latin American Community in Southwark – Follow-up report

• A Latin American Cultural Arts Centre in Glasgow?November 3, 2025
  In 2025, I was awarded the Creative Launch Fund to explore the creation of a Latin American Cultural Arts Centre in Glasgow. The project builds on my research into Latin American diasporas in London and Scotland. The funding supported the delivery of three community workshops designed to collectively imagine and co-design the proposed Centre. TheContinue reading “A Latin American Cultural Arts Centre in Glasgow?”
• Welcome to This Trip: Young Latin Americans Rewrite Migration NarrativesSeptember 20, 2025
  In recent years, migration has become one of the central battlegrounds of political debate across Europe and the United Kingdom. The rise of far-right movements, fuelled by nationalist rhetoric and anti-immigrant sentiment, has reshaped public discourse on belonging, identity, and citizenship. Migrants are too often cast as threats — whether to economic stability, social cohesion,Continue reading “Welcome to This Trip: Young Latin Americans Rewrite Migration Narratives”
• Open for Discussion- Languages and the Pandemic: Public Health Engagement with Multilingual Communities in the UKMay 2, 2021
  In 2021, I was invited to take part of the Open for Discussion, an annual series of conversations convened by experts at the School of Advanced Study at the University of London that brings multidisciplinary humanities perspectives to bear on critical social issues — issues with human dimensions frequently overlooked in current policy debates. TheContinue reading “Open for Discussion- Languages and the Pandemic: Public Health Engagement with Multilingual Communities in the UK”

Work in Progress: The Latin American Communities in Scotland

Latin American communities in Scotland are under-represented, under-researched and remain invisible, despite a rich history of migration that spans almost five decades. This project aims to map the Latin American communities, recording the stories and tracing the histories of Latin Americans in Scotland, with a focus in Greater Glasgow.

Forthcoming article: “Devolved Invisibility: Identity and Belonging among Latin American Communities in Scotland”, Bulletin of Latin American Research (accepted, 2027)

Abstract: This article seeks to address the research gap concerning Latin American communities in Scotland, by focusing on the experiences and sense of identity of first-generation Latin American migrants who have arrived and settled in Scotland in the twenty-first century. This article examines the experiences and stories of Latin American migrants in Scotland and how they navigate their identities within a devolved UK nation. It explores their cultural histories and heritages in the context of both Scottish society and the broader landscapes of the United Kingdom and Europe. By drawing on the metaphor of the walking palm tree (Socratea exorrhiza), this research argues that being Latin American in Scotland involves a conscious and dynamic process of identity formation. Much like the tree, which is believed to shift its roots in search of more stable ground, Latin Americans in Scotland navigate a continual repositioning of cultural and ethnic belonging. Despite a national discourse that promotes the welcoming of migrants, this discourse often situates them in a state of ongoing de-rooting. While acknowledging the limitations of generalising across such a diverse group, the findings suggest that a collective Latin American identity is frequently constructed as a strategy for visibility and solidarity—though this can come at the cost of flattening internal differences and, at times, reinforcing the very stereotypes the community seeks to resist.