Zaire Zenit Dinzey-Flores

At 5 years old, I was asked what it feels to be Black…in Puerto Rico. Since then, I’ve been on a journey to answer that question. I am una negrita (yes, I embrace the diminutive but don’t deploy it on me!)  Caribeña, daughter of Dominican parents and multigenerational circum Caribbean migrations, descendant of negros who between sugarcane and cement, built our worlds. My scholarship focuses precisely on how the built environment reproduces and archives race, class, and gender inequality. I am the author of “Locked In, Locked Out: Gated Communities in a Puerto Rican City” (2013: University of Pennsylvania Press). I continue to work, research, write, and present on the relationship of space and race. I’m also a mother who tries to do it all in a practice of integrity and justice. All, while wearing silver shoes. I have a B.A. in Sociology from Harvard College, an M.A. from Stanford University, and a Masters in Urban Planning and joint Ph.D. in Public Policy and Sociology from the University of Michigan.