Sabia McCoy-Torres

Sabia McCoy-Torres is an Assistant Professor jointly appointed in the Department of Anthropology and Program in Africana Studies. She has a Ph.D. in social and cultural anthropology from Cornell University. Her research focuses on the English and Spanish speaking African Diaspora, race, gender/sexuality, transnationalism, and Black popular music and performance. Dr. McCoy-Torres’ current book project uses reggae culture as an ethnographic lens to interpret these dynamics within the West Indian Diaspora in Costa Rica and Brooklyn, New York. Her work has been published in Popular Music & Society; Black Music Research Journal; and Transforming Anthropology, for which she is a Contributing Editor. She has a forthcoming article in The Global South. Dr. McCoy-Torres' course offerings include: The Anthropology of Race; Urban Music: Race, Class, and Sexuality; Blackness in Latin America; Black Transnational Culture; and Race and Migration.

Recent publications:

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

2018 – “‘I wanna be the king of sounds’: Otaku and Transnational Migrants in Brooklyn Reggae Culture.” Popular Music and Society July 17: 1 – 25 [Online publication date. Print Date May 2019, 42(3): 1- 25]

2017 – “Love Dem Bad: Embodied Experience, Self-Adoration, and Eroticism in Dancehall Reggae Dance.” Transforming Anthropology 25(2): 185 – 200

2016 – “‘Cien porciento tico tico’”: Reggae, Race, Belonging, and the Afro-Caribbean Ticos of Costa Rica” Black Music Research Journal 36(1): 1 – 27

Blog Posts:

2018 – “Arturo Schomburg Was Vital to the Harlem Renaissance, But His Latino Identity is Often Forgotten.” Remezcla. Guest Contributor. February 22.

2018 – “Uncovering Anti-Blackness in Casual Conversation: Young Hollywood’s Words to Amara La Negra.” Latino Rebels. Guest Contributor. January 9.

2015 – “Excluding the Afro from Iglesias’ Video en Español.” Latino Rebels. Guest Contributor. January 8.