Katherine T. McCaffrey, Ph.D.
Phone: 973-655-7560
Office: Dickson 412
E-mail: mccaffreyk@mail.montclair.edu
Education: Ph.D. City University of New York Graduate School, Department of Anthropology 1999.
Research Interests
Dr. McCaffrey’s fieldwork has been based in Vieques, Puerto Rico and has focused on the conflict between the U.S. Navy and residents of that island. She has been interested in the transformation of Vieques from a rural sugar cane island into a military theater of war, the vicissitudes of protest, and the ways Puerto Rico’s colonial status has shaped the conflict. Since the Navy left Vieques in May 2003, she has been evaluating the significance of the social movement that dislodged the military from what it once described as the “crown jewel” of its installations in the Western Hemisphere. She is tracking the rapid social and economic transformation of the Vieques. She is also interested in drawing a comparative view of Vieques in relationship to other base communities, as part of a broader interest in the military’s impact on and relationship with civil society.
Military Power and Popular Protest: The U.S. Navy in Vieques, Puerto Rico. New Brunswick, N.J. Rutgers University Press, 2002.
“Forging Solidarity: Politics, Protest and the Vieques Solidarity Network.” In The Puerto Rican Movement: Voices from the Diaspora, edited by Andrés Torres and José Velázquez. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1998.
“Ni Una Bomba Mas: Reframing the Vieques Struggle” (with Sherrie Baver). Presentation at XXIV International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association. Dallas, Texas. March 27-29, 2003.
“Politics and Art in Vieques, Puerto Rico.” Studio 360, National Public Radio, May 5, 2001.
“We are a Species on the Verge of Extinction: Cultural Identity on the Margins of the Nation.” Invited Lecture at “None of the Above: Puerto Rican Politics and Culture in the New Millenium,” a symposium at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, April 10-12, 2001.