Lissette Acosta
Assistant Professor
Ethnic and Race Studies
EMAIL: liacosta@bmcc.cuny.edu
Office: S-623E
Office Hours: Mo.,12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.; Wed.,1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Phone: +1 (212) 220-1373
Lissette Acosta Corniel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Race and Ethnic Studies at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY, in New York City where she teaches Dominican History and the History of Latinos in the U.S.
Expertise
Acosta Corniel is a 2016 Fulbright Alumna who conducted research in the Dominican Republic on gender-based violence since the colonial period and about free and enslaved black women in Santo Domingo during the XVI-XVIII centuries. She has presented her research internationally and throughout the United States and is the editor of Transatlantic Bondage: Slavery and Freedom in Spain, Santo Domingo, and Puerto Rico, SUNY Press https://sunypress.edu/Books/T/Transatlantic-Bondage. She is a contributor to the New York City Department of Education Hidden Voices: Stories of the Global African Diaspora, Vol. 1 and 2. You can download her essays at www.weteachnyc.org.
Her favorite colors are royal blue and bright yellow and she doesn’t eat pork but eats bacon.
Degrees
- William Paterson University, BA, English Literature, 1998
- William Paterson University, M. Ed., 2005
- State University of New York at Albany, Ph.D. Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies, 2013
Courses Taught
- This course studies the historical conditions of Puerto Rico in the 20th century. The transition from a Spanish colony to an American possession is examined. The events and forces that created the present Puerto Rico are studied and analyzed in perspective. The alternatives to the problem of status commonwealth, statehood and independence are studied.
- This course studies the history of the Dominican Republic from the pre-Columbian and Colonial periods to the present. It deals with the geographical, political, social and economic factors that form the Dominican nation. Emphasis is given to relations with Haiti and North America. The course also analyzes the position of the Dominican Republic in the community of Latin American nations as well as its place in today's world.
- This course studies the varied experiences of Latinos in the United States of America. Through readings, lectures, discussions and fieldwork, students will become familiar with the group and its diverse components from North, Central and South America as well as the Caribbean, while covering representative nationalities such as Mexicans, Salvadorians, Cubans, Colombians, Ecuadorians, Puerto Ricans and Dominicans. The course will survey the history and evolution of Latinos at the same time that it explores issues of culture and identity. Other topics include family, race relations, religion, education, economic incorporation and political participation. Key issues of contemporary interest will also be explored, such as Latinos and immigration, and the impact they have on local, state and nationwide elective office.
- The changing status of women in African traditional societies is compared with changes in the status of Black women in the United States, the Caribbean, and Brazil.
- Introduction to Ethnic Studies explores the historical formation of ethnic studies in the United States. The course examines the academic field of Ethnic Studies by raising questions about the ways that race and racism shape our experiences and world across a range of time and places. In an interdisciplinary approach, the course will introduce students to a variety of terms such as ethnicity, race, class, gender, ethnic stratification, etc. The course will also teach students a variety of methodological approaches to doing ethnic studies research and major issues in the field. It places an emphasis on relationships and conflicts between diverse groups, especially how they were treated and defined in relation to each other. Broadly speaking, this course is concerned with how these groups struggle to stake out their place in a highly unequal world.
- The Ethnic Studies capstone will focus on special topics within the field and expertise of the instructor. It will provide a culminating experience for students by allowing them to explore a topic in-depth, engage in independent research, develop their analytic abilities and critical thinking skills, and apply concepts and theories to new cases. The capstone course will introduce students to the major theoretical perspectives, the basic research methodologies and research design issues, and the central analytical models in Ethnic Studies. Over the course of the semester, each student will engage in independent research that culminates in a research paper or project and a presentation to the class. This course will help students achieve BMCC's General Education outcomes by developing their understanding of the social sciences, strengthening their communication skills and information and technology literacy, deepening their appreciation for professional values and ethics, and encouraging and assessing critical thinking skills.
Prerequisite: AFL 100
Research and Projects
She is working on her book manuscript about gender-based violence, femicide, and women’s autonomy in colonial Santo Domingo tentatively titled Bad Women, Contested Freedoms: Feminist Behavior in Sixteenth Century Hispaniola.
Publications
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Book
- Editor, Transatlantic Bondage: Slavery and Freedom in Spain, Santo Domingo, and Puerto Rico. New York: SUNY Press, 2024.
Articles and Book Chapters
- “Digital Pedagogy in a Multicultural Setting: Learning History, Identity, and Connecting through Technology.” In Beyond Digital Fronteras: Rehumanizing Latinx Education, edited by Isabel Martínez, Irma Montelongo, Nicholás D. Natividad, Àngel D. Nieves. New York: SUNY Press, 2024. https://sunypress.edu/Books/C/Crossing-Digital-Fronteras
- “Elena: escapando para bailar y otros defectos en el Santo Domingo Colonial, 1771-73”. Estudios Sociales, No. 167 (mayo 2024): 8-38.
https://estudiossociales.bono.edu.do/index.php/es/issue/view/160 - “Juana Gelofa Pelona: An Enslaved but Insubordinate Witness in Santo Domingo (1549-1555).” PerspectivasAfro, 1/2 (enero-junio 2022): 77-90. https://revistas.unicartagena.edu.co/index.php/PersAfro/article/download/3833/3149/8226
- “Elena: Running to Dance and Other Defects in Colonial Santo Domingo (1771–73).” Women, Gender, and Families of Color 9, No. 2 (Fall 2021): 189–207. (Winner of the LASA, Haiti-Dominican Republic Section article award).
- “Colonial Hispaniola: Fray Antonio de Montesinos and Spanish Women’s Human Rights (1498-1549). In Montesinos’ Legacy: Defining and Defending Human Rights for 500 Years, edited by Edward C. Lorenz, Dana Aspinall, and J. Michael Raley.2015, Lexington Books.
- “Negras, mulatas y morenas en La Española del siglo XVI (1502-1606).” In Esclavitud, mestizaje y abolicionismo en los mundos hispanicos, edited. Aurelia Martín Casares. 2015, University of Granada Press.
Book Review
- Moreno M. C. Crossing Waters: Undocumented Migration in Hispanophone Caribbean and Latinx Literature and Art in Intervenxions, The Latinx Project, NYU (August 22, 2023). Crossing Waters Book Review, August 2023
Digital Humanities
- “Juan Rodriguez: First Free African Descendant and Latino Person to Live in New York City.” In Hidden Voices: Stories of the Global African Diaspora coordinated by Michael Gomez. New York City: New York City Department of Education, Social Studies Division, 2024. Vol. 1, https://www.weteachnyc.org/resources/resource/hidden-voices-stories-of-the-global-african-diaspora-volume-1/
- “Antonio Maceo y Grajales: The “Bronze Titan” of Cuban Independence and Abolition of Slavery.” In Hidden Voices: Stories of the Global African Diaspora coordinated by Michael Gomez. New York City: New York City Department of Education, Social Studies Division, 2024. Vol. 2, https://www.weteachnyc.org/resources/resource/hidden-voices-stories-of-the-global-african-diaspora-volume-2/
- “Carlos A. Cooks: Dominican Black Power from Garvey to Malcolm X.” In Hidden Voices: Stories of the Global African Diaspora coordinated by Michael Gomez. New York City: New York City Department of Education, Social Studies Division, 2024. Vol. 2, https://www.weteachnyc.org/resources/resource/hidden-voices-stories-of-the-global-african-diaspora-volume-2/
Other Publications
- Encyclopedic entries: Micaela Ginés; Teodora Ginés; and Juana Gelofa Pelona. In, Dictionary of Caribbean and Afro-Latin American Biography, edited by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Franklin Knight; subject editor, Silvio Torres-Saillant. New York: Oxford, 2016.
Honors, Awards and Affiliations
GRANTS
· PSC-CUNY Research Grant-A, (2019-2020)
· CUNY Dominican Studies Institute (CUNY DSI) fellowship, (2019-2020)
· Fulbright Regional Grant, Peru (Spring 2017)
· Fulbright Scholar Award, Dominican Republic, (2016–2017)
· Latin American Studies Association (LASA) Travel Grant, (Spring 2017)
· National Endowment for the Humanities, Summer Institute, Space and Place in Africana/Black Studies, Purdue University/Hamilton College, (Summer 2016, spring 2017)
· Kirkland Endowment Grant for Women and about Women, Hamilton College, (Spring 2016)
· Elon University Study Abroad Service-Learning Grant, Dominican Republic (Fall 2015)
· New York City Council for the Humanities Action Grant, (Spring 2015)
· Citizens Committee of New York City Community Project Grant, (Spring 2015)
· CUNY Diversity Projects Development Fund Grant, (Fall 2014)
· First Recipient of the Jagadish Garg Doctoral Grant in the College of Arts and Sciences, University at Albany, (Spring 2013)
· Dominican Studies Institute (CUNY DSI) and National Library, Pedro Henríquez Ureña (Dominican Republic) Research Grant, (Spring 2012)
· Initiatives for Women Grant, University at Albany, (Summer 2010)
· Carson Carr Graduate Diversity Scholar, University at Albany, (2008–2012)
AWARDS
· Nominated for the Distinguished Teaching Award, Borough of Manhattan Community College, (Spring 2019)
· Professor of the Year, Student Diversity Council Silver Shield Award, Hamilton College, (Spring 2016)
· New York State 40 under 40 Rising Star Award, (Spring 2016)
· Thomas H. Kean Outstanding Equal Opportunity Fund Alumni New Jersey State Award, (Spring 2016)
· Honorary Godmother Award, Women’s Center, William Paterson University, (Spring 2012)
Additional Information
Study Abroad Experience
- Dominican Republic
- Haiti
- Cuba
