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Marie Cruz Soto

Clinical Associate Professor
mcs11@nyu.edu
(212) 992-7761
707 - 1 Wash Pl

Office Hours
Tuesday 2:00 TO 4:00 (BY APPT)
Thursday BY APPT

B.A., History of the Americas, Puerto Rico, 2000
M.A., History, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2002
Ph.D., History, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2008

Marie Cruz Soto is interested in imperial/colonial processes of becoming (i.e., in the creation and naturalization of coloniality), and in those struggles to un-become upon which survival sometimes hinges (i.e., in the imagining of a different world).  She is particularly interested in the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, and in how militarized colonialism has shaped the makings of the Viequense community.  Her work explores how the long history of violent displacements and dispossessions in the island has ensured a vulnerable and unruly population.  Her work consequently engages with the violence of militarized colonialism and with the proposals of anti-colonial and anti-militarism struggles.   Cruz Soto is also a peace activist who has participated in Viequense community initiatives, in the organization New York Solidarity with Vieques and in transnational networks of solidarity against US military bases.  As part of this work, she has, for example, given public lectures and participated as a petitioner in the United Nations Decolonization Hearings on Puerto Rico.    At Gallatin, she teaches courses that delve into feminist and anti-colonial epistemologies, into the workings of the US Empire, into struggles to narrate the past and claim places, and into the formation of communities and the edification and transgression of boundaries.

Teaching and Research Interests

cultural history of the Caribbean  Latin America and the United States with an emphasis on identity negotiations  postcolonial and feminist theory  spatial and historical narrations  nationalism  empire studies  community formations and transnational networks 

Recent News

Marie Cruz-Soto has been awarded a 2018 New York University Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Faculty Award. The award honors outstanding faculty who exemplify the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King through their excellent teaching, leadership, social justice, and community building.  

Marie Cruz Soto