Eileen Findlay Professor and Department Chair, Critical RGC Studies History

Additional Positions at AU: Chair, Critical Race, Gender, Cultural Studies Collaborative; Outstanding University-Wide Full-Time Teacher (2016)
Degrees: PhD, 1995, Latin American History, University of Wisconsin, Madison
BA, 1982, Religion, Oberlin College
Languages Spoken: Fluent Spanish
Proficient French
Bio: Eileen Findlay graduated from Oberlin College and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she held a Jacob Javits fellowship.
Both her books, 'We Are Left Without a Father Here': Masculinity, Domesticity, and Migration in Post-War Puerto Rico and Imposing Decency: The Politics of Sexuality and Race in Puerto Rico, 1870-1920 were published with Duke University Press. In her article, “Courtroom Tales of Sex and Honor: Rapto and Rape in Late-Nineteenth Century Puerto Rico,” published in Sueann Caulfield, et al, eds., Honor, Status, and the Law in Modern Latin America, Findlay began to explore her current interest in laboring people’s artistic and political shaping of oral narratives. She has continued these investigations through her development of oral history projects with Cuban ex-revolutionaries living in the diaspora and with Nuyorican return migrants to Puerto Rico.

See Also: Department of History
For the Media: To request an interview for a news story, call AU Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.; AU Experts

Teaching

“Cien porciento Cubanos: National Identity, Master Narratives and Silencing Moves in a Transnational Caribbean Family History” Latin American Research Review (December 2019)
“Dangerous Dependence or Productive Masculinity? Gendered Representations of Puerto Ricans in the U.S. Press, 1940-50” Radical History Review (May 2017)
We Are Left Without a Father Here: Masculinity, Domesticity, and Migration in Post-War Puerto Rico (Duke University Press, 2014)
“Slipping and Sliding: The Many Meanings of Race in Life Histories of New York Puerto Rican Return Migrants in San Juan” CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (Spring 2012)
“Artful Narration: Puerto Rican Women Return Migrants' Life Stories” The Journal of Women's History (Winter 2010)
“Portable Roots: Latin New Yorker Community Building and the Meanings of Women's Return Migration in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1960-2000” Caribbean Studies (Spring 2010)
“Courtroom Tales of Sex and Honor: Rape and Rapto in Nineteenth Century Puerto Rico” in Sueann Caulfield, Sarah Chambers, and Lara Putnam, eds., Honor, Status, and the Law in Modern Latin America (Duke University Press)
Imposing Decency: The Politics of Sexuality and Race in Puerto Rico, 1870-1920 (Duke University Press)

Alice Paul Award for Life-long Achievement in the Advancement of Women
University Award for Outstanding Teaching in the General Education Program
Distinguished Faculty Award from the Offices of Multicultural Affairs and International Student Services, American University
Office of GLBTA Award for Outstanding Faculty Member