I am an assistant professor focusing on political behavior and racial and ethnic politics. My interests are heavily influenced by my experiences being raised in both the USA and México. I completed my B.Sc. in Psychology at Brigham Young University and my M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Behavior from Stony Brook University. My training there focused on political psychology and research methodology as well as political economy.
I teach courses focused on political behavior, attitudes, and psychology. One particular area of interest for my teaching is the politics of identity; more specifically, I focus on race and ethnicity.
My 2017 book: “Latino Identity and Political Attitudes: Why Are Latinos Not Republican”won the American Political Science Association’s Racial and Ethnic Politics Section Best Book Award for Race and Political Behavior. My research argues that people have multiple identities and that these identities coexist and are complementary rather than in conflict. I use measurement models to better understand the underlying factors that shape political behavior and attitudes about immigration.
I enjoy working with students and continue to seek mentorship opportunities through my research projects and a graduate-style identities lab. My current projects involve exploring identity complexity, the development of political identities in multicultural rural settings, and understanding the forces that shape the Latinx vote as well as immigration attitudes across the Americas.
Saavedra Cisneros , Angel. “Latino Republicans.” In Oxford Bibliographies in Latino Studies. Ed. Ilan Stavans. New York: Oxford University Press, (2018).
