Daphne V. Taylor-García

Daphne V. Taylor-García is an Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, San Diego. She holds affiliations with UCSD’s Critical Gender Studies Program, Chicanx Latinx Studies Program, Latin American Studies Program, and The Center of Study and Investigation for Global Dialogue at the University of Barcelona, Spain. Her work bridges decolonial philosophy, race theory, and critical gender studies.

Education: Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies from UC Berkeley (2008), followed by a UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship at UC Santa Barbara (2008–2010).

Research focuses on colonial constructions of race, gender, and class, particularly through analyses of the casta system and its legacy in modern Latinx experiences. She critiques anti-Blackness in developmental psychology and examines how colonial taxonomies perpetuate social stratification.

Key publications include a 2020 article in Theory and Psychology and her 2018 monograph The Existence of the Mixed Race Damnés, which re-examines colonial categorizations of mixed-race populations.

Awards include recognition from the UC Humanities Research Institute and the prestigious President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship.