Monica Espaillat Lizardo

Biography

Monica Espaillat Lizardo earned an Honours BA with “High Distinction” from the University of Toronto in 2013. In 2013 she began a direct-entry PhD program at the University of Toronto. Monica is currently a doctoral student at the Department of History and at the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies. Monica’s dissertation, entitled “Transversive Movements: A Trans History of Hispaniola, 1970-2000,” engages an examination of how rates of economic opportunity and religious and political climates shaped the migration of Trans people in late twentieth century Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Her doctoral project engages the following questions: Where are the narratives of Trans folk before the turn of the century? How did the regimes of dictatorship and targeted violence against sexual and gender minorities offset Trans migrations between Haiti and the Dominican Republic during the latter half of the twentieth century? How have religious differences between Haiti and the Dominican Republic affected these migrations? How has economic necessity shaped the mobility of Trans folk? The project engages both traditional archival sources in combination with an Oral History methodology. Monica Espaillat Lizardo earned an Honours BA with “High Distinction” from the University of Toronto in 2013. In 2013 she began a direct-entry PhD program at the University of Toronto. Monica is currently a doctoral student at the Department of History and at the Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies. Monica’s dissertation, entitled “Transversive Movements: A Trans History of Hispaniola, 1970-2000,” engages an examination of how rates of economic opportunity and religious and political climates shaped the migration of Trans people in late twentieth century Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Her doctoral project engages the following questions: Where are the narratives of Trans folk before the turn of the century? How did the regimes of dictatorship and targeted violence against sexual and gender minorities offset Trans migrations between Haiti and the Dominican Republic during the latter half of the twentieth century? How have religious differences between Haiti and the Dominican Republic affected these migrations? How has economic necessity shaped the mobility of Trans folk? The project engages both traditional archival sources in combination with an Oral History methodology.

Research Interest

History