Roger Cadena

Cohort

2019

Subfields

Cultural Sociology, Political Sociology, Race and Ethnicity, Sociology of Education

Profile

Roger Cadena is a doctoral candidate in Sociology and a GAIA Fellow for Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame. His research exists at the intersections of race, ethnicity, culture, and politics, and is interested in understanding how racialization shapes Latinos’ social and political identities. Drawing on original, in-depth interviews with US Latinos from around the country, Roger’s dissertation, The Construction, Connection, and Communication of Latinx Identities and Politics, aims to unpack the heterogeneity of Latinx life by exploring the complex and contradictory feelings, choices, and ideologies Latinxs navigate surrounding racialization and the two-party system. Roger’s research on Latino Republicans has been published in Sociology of Race and Ethnicity. He is also interested in DuBoisian Theory and has published an article on W.E.B. Du Bois’ theorization of racial ideologies and school curricula in Sociology Compass. Roger is an American Sociological Association's Minority Fellowship Program Fellow. Moreover, he was among the five 2023 National Institute of Social Sciences Dissertation Grant awardees and was Honorably Mentioned for the Ford Foundation's 2022 Predoctoral Fellowship. Before attending Notre Dame, Roger was a middle and high school social studies teacher in Chicago Public Schools. He also received an M.A. in International Relations at the University of Chicago and a B.A. in History-Social Science Education at Illinois State University. For leisure, Roger enjoys listening to the latest Bey album or legal podcasts on walks or while cooking, watching TV/movies with good friends, and reading the many books he’s been gifted over the years.