Professor Sujatha Fernandes
Sujatha Fernandes is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Sydney, which she joined in 2016. Previously she was a Professor of Sociology at Queens College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Before this, she was a Wilson-Cotsen Fellow at Princeton University’s Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts (2003 – 2006). She has a PhD in Political Science from the University of Chicago. Fernandes is the author of Cuba Represent! Cuban Arts, State Power, and the Making of New Revolutionary Cultures (Duke University Press, 2006), Who Can Stop the Drums? Urban Social Movements in Chávez’s Venezuela (Duke University Press, 2010), Close to the Edge: In Search of the Global Hip Hop Generation (Verso, 2011), and Curated Stories: The Uses and Misuses of Storytelling (Oxford University Press, 2017). Her latest book is entitled,The Cuban Hustle: Culture, Politics, Everyday Life (Duke University Press, 2020). She has published articles in many edited volumes and journals, including Signs, Contexts, Latin American Politics & Society, Ethnography, and Anthropological Quarterly. Her work has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, and Chinese. She is a contributor to The New York Times,The Nation, and Dissent, among other publications. She has been featured in New York’s Daily News, and has appeared on ABC Australia, NPR, MSNBC, American Public Radio, BBC, and many other news outlets globally. She is an editorial board member of Transition: The Magazine of Africa and the Diaspora.
Fernandes' work explores social and labour movements, participatory media and art, global Black cultures, and migrant workers, with a focus on the Americas. Her writings are concerned with the stories of those erased by history, multi-racial working class encounter and solidarities, anti-Blackness, neoliberalism and colonial presence.
- ECOP2911: Political Economy Honours II
- SCLG2609: Contemporary Cultural Issues
Selected publications
Publications
Books
- Fernandes, S. (2020). The Cuban Hustle: Culture, Politics, Everyday Life. Durham: Duke University Press. [More Information]
- Fernandes, S. (2017). Curated Stories: The Uses and Misuses of Storytelling. New York: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
- Fernandes, S. (2011). Close to the Edge: In Search of the Global Hip Hop Generation. London: Verso.
Book Chapters
- Fernandes, S. (2025). Who Can Stop the Drums? Fiestas as Sites of Popular Organization in Venezuela. In Noriko Manabe, Eric Drott (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Protest Music. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
- Fernandes, S. (2022). Domestic Workers and Storytelling Advocacy: Competing Visions of Migrant Worker Organizing. In Leticia Saucedo and Robyn Magalit Rodriguez (Eds.), Race, Gender, and Contemporary International Labor Migration Regimes: 21st-Century Coolies?, (pp. 154-175). 2022: Edward Elgar Publishing.
- Fernandes, S. (2022). Domestic workers and storytelling advocacy: Competing visions of migrant worker organizing. In Leticia Saucedo and Robyn Magalit Rodriguez (Eds.), Race, Gender, and Contemporary International Labor Migration Regimes: 21st-Century Coolies?, (pp. 154-175). 2022: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Journals
- Fernandes, S. (2021). The Domestic Workers Strike Migrant Women, Social Reproduction, and Contentious Labour Organising. Feminist Review, 129(1), 16-31. [More Information]
- Frantz, C., Fernandes, S. (2018). Whose Movement Is It? Strategic Philanthropy and Worker Centers. Critical Sociology, 44(4-5), 645-660. [More Information]
- Fernandes, S. (2017). Stories and Statecraft: Afghan Women's Narratives and the Construction of Western Freedoms. Signs, 42(3), 643-667. [More Information]
Textual Creative Works
- Fernandes, S. (2022). Redtooth Triggerfish, (pp. 10 - 24). United States of America: .
- Fernandes, S. (2019). A Fistful of Dirt. New Ohio Review, (pp. 98 - 109). United States of America: Ohio University.
- Fernandes, S. (2018). Bamboo Wedding. Aster(ix) Journal - (Un)bound: Five Years of Asterisms, 30 December 2018, (pp. 1 - 16). Pittsburgh, United States of America: Blue Sketch Press.
2025
- Fernandes, S. (2025). Who Can Stop the Drums? Fiestas as Sites of Popular Organization in Venezuela. In Noriko Manabe, Eric Drott (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Protest Music. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
2022
- Fernandes, S. (2022). Redtooth Triggerfish, (pp. 10 - 24). United States of America: .
- Fernandes, S. (2022). Domestic Workers and Storytelling Advocacy: Competing Visions of Migrant Worker Organizing. In Leticia Saucedo and Robyn Magalit Rodriguez (Eds.), Race, Gender, and Contemporary International Labor Migration Regimes: 21st-Century Coolies?, (pp. 154-175). 2022: Edward Elgar Publishing.
- Fernandes, S. (2022). Domestic workers and storytelling advocacy: Competing visions of migrant worker organizing. In Leticia Saucedo and Robyn Magalit Rodriguez (Eds.), Race, Gender, and Contemporary International Labor Migration Regimes: 21st-Century Coolies?, (pp. 154-175). 2022: Edward Elgar Publishing.
2021
- Fernandes, S. (2021). The Domestic Workers Strike Migrant Women, Social Reproduction, and Contentious Labour Organising. Feminist Review, 129(1), 16-31. [More Information]
2020
- Fernandes, S. (2020). The Cuban Hustle: Culture, Politics, Everyday Life. Durham: Duke University Press. [More Information]
2019
- Fernandes, S. (2019). A Fistful of Dirt. New Ohio Review, (pp. 98 - 109). United States of America: Ohio University.
- Fernandes, S. (2019). Afro-Cuban Activists Fight Racism between Two Fires. In Aviva Chomsky, Barry Carr, Alfredo Prieto, Pamela Maria Smorkaloff (Eds.), The Cuba Reader: History, Culture, Politics, (pp. 607-614). Durham: Duke University Press. [More Information]
2018
- Fernandes, S. (2018). Bamboo Wedding. Aster(ix) Journal - (Un)bound: Five Years of Asterisms, 30 December 2018, (pp. 1 - 16). Pittsburgh, United States of America: Blue Sketch Press.
- Fernandes, S. (2018). One of the Family. The Maine Review, United States of America: Maine Review Publications.
- Frantz, C., Fernandes, S. (2018). Whose Movement Is It? Strategic Philanthropy and Worker Centers. Critical Sociology, 44(4-5), 645-660. [More Information]
2017
- Fernandes, S. (2017). Cultural Policies of the Chavez Government. In William Beezley (Eds.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History, (pp. 1-20). Online: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
- Fernandes, S. (2017). Curated Stories: The Uses and Misuses of Storytelling. New York: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
- Fernandes, S. (2017). Stories and Statecraft: Afghan Women's Narratives and the Construction of Western Freedoms. Signs, 42(3), 643-667. [More Information]
2016
- Fernandes, S. (2016). Building Child-Centered Social Movements. Contexts, 15(1), 54-59. [More Information]
- Fernandes, S. (2016). Out of the home, Into the House: Narratives and Strategies in Domestic Worker Legislative Campaigns. Social Text, 34(3), 1-25. [More Information]
2015
- Fernandes, S. (2015). 'Obama Nation': Hip Hop and Global Protest. In Travis L. Gosa and Erik Nielson (Eds.), The Hip Hop & Obama Reader, (pp. 88-93). New York: Oxford University Press. [More Information]
- Fernandes, S. (2015). Cuban hip hop. In Justin Williams (Eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Hip Hop, (pp. 263-270). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Fernandes, S. (2015). Urban Social Movements in Venezuela. In Paul Almeida, Allen Cordero Ulate (Eds.), Handbook of Social Movements Across Latin America, (pp. 195-204). Dordrecht: Springer. [More Information]
2014
- Fernandes, S. (2014). Informal Cities and Community-Based Organizing: The Case of the Teatro Alameda. In Brodwyn Fischer, Bryan McCann, Javier Auyero (Eds.), Cities From Scratch: Poverty and Informality in Urban Latin America, (pp. 185-207). Durham: Duke University Press.
2013
- Fernandes, S. (2013). Culture and Neoliberal Rationalities in Postneoliberal Venezuela. In Mark Goodale, Nancy Postero (Eds.), Neoliberalism, Interrupted: Social Change and Contested Governance in Contemporary Latin America, (pp. 53-72). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
2012
- Fernandes, S. (2012). Culture and/or Postmodernism. In Peter Kingstone, Deborah Yasher (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Latin American Politics, (pp. 407-418). New York: Routledge.
- Fernandes, S. (2012). Los experimentos de Venezuela en la democracia popular: es possible democratizar un gobierno capitalista? In Jorge Valero (Eds.), Democracias Nuevas o Restauradas: El Caso Venezuela, (pp. 69-78). Venezuela: Fundacion Editorial el Perro y la Rana.
- Fernandes, S. (2012). Malandreo Negro: Gangsta Rap and the Politics of Exclusion in Venezuela. In Kwame Dixon, John Burdick (Eds.), Comparative Perspectives on Afro-Latin American, (pp. 72-92). Gainesville, USA: University Press of Florida. [More Information]
2011
- Fernandes, S. (2011). Close to the Edge: In Search of the Global Hip Hop Generation. London: Verso.
- Fernandes, S. (2011). Everyday Wars of Position: Social Movements and the Caracas Barrios in a Chavez Era. Colombia Internacional, 73((special issue on Latin American cities)), 71-90.
- Fernandes, S. (2011). Made in Havana City: Rap Music, Space, and Racial Politics. In Anke Birkenmaier, Esther Whitfield (Eds.), Havana Beyond the Ruins: Cultural Mappings after 1989, (pp. 173-186). Durham: Duke University Press.
2010
- Fernandes, S. (2010). Gender, Popular Participation, and the State in Chavez's Venezuela. In Karen Kampwirth (Eds.), Gender and Populism in Latin America: Passionate Politics, (pp. 202-221). University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.
- Fernandes, S. (2010). Revolutionary Praxis in a Post-Neoliberal Era: Media Associations and the New Coalitional Politics in Venezuela. Interventions, 12(1), 88-99. [More Information]
- Fernandes, S. (2010). Who Can Stop the Drums? Urban Social Movements in Chávez's Venezuela. Durham: Duke University Press.
2009
- Fernandes, S. (2009). Urbanizing the San Juan Fiesta: Civil Society and Cultural Identity in the Barrios of Caracas. In Carol Greenhouse (Eds.), Ethnographies of Neoliberalism, (pp. 96-111). United States: Penn Press.
2008
- Fernandes, S. (2008). Ethnicity, Civil Society and the Church: The Politics of Evangelical Christianity in Northeast India. In David Lumsdaine (Eds.), Evangelical Christianity and Democracy in Asia, (pp. 131-154). United States: New York: Oxford University Press.
2007
- Fernandes, S. (2007). Barrio Women and Popular Politics in Chávez's Venezuela. Latin American Politics and Society, 49(3), 97-127.
- Fernandes, S. (2007). Hip Hop and Black Public Spheres in Venezuela, Cuba and Brazil. In Darien Davis (Eds.), Beyond Slavery: The Multi-Layered Legacy of Africans in Latin America, (pp. 199-222). United States: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
- Fernandes, S. (2007). Proven Presence: The Emergence of a Feminist Politics in Cuban Hip-Hop. In Gwendolyn Pough (Eds.), Home Girls, Make Some Noise!: Hip Hop Feminism Anthology, (pp. 5-18). United States: Parker Publishing.
2006
- Fernandes, S. (2006). Cuba Represent! Cuban Arts, State Power, and the Making of New Revolutionary Cultures. Durham: Duke University Press.
- Fernandes, S. (2006). Recasting Ideology, Recreating Hegemony: Critical Debates about Film in Contemporary Cuba. Ethnography, 7(3), 303-327.
2005
- Fernandes, S. (2005). Transnationalism and Feminist Activism in Cuba: The Case of Magin. Politics and Gender, 1(3), 431-452.
2003
- Fernandes, S. (2003). Fear of a Black Nation: Local Rappers, Transnational Crossings and State Power in Contemporary Cuba. Anthropological Quarterly, 76(4), 575-608.
- FERNANDES, S. (2003). Island Paradise, Revolutionary Utopia or Hustler's Haven? Consumerism and Socialism in Contemporary Cuban Rap. Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies, 12(3), 359-375. [More Information]
Selected Grants
2021
- Migrant Worlds: Labouring Lives and Worker Consciousness in Global Cities, Fernandes S, Australian Research Council (ARC)/Discovery Projects (DP)
2016
- Understanding Power, Effecting Change: Theory Across the Curriculum (Open Learning Environment - Undergraduate), Fernandes S, Baines D, Driscoll C, Angosto Ferrandez L, Konings M, Morton A, Van Wichelen S, DVC Education/Small Educational Innovation Grant
Other Grants
2021, One Sydney, Many People grant for Curriculum Review Plan, Racial Justice and the Curriculum working group, University of Sydney.
2022, second follow-up One Sydney, Many People grant funded.
2020 – 1, India Development Fund (IDF), Office of Global Engagement, University of Sydney.
In the media
Fernandes, S. (2022).'Climate Refuge', Asterix Journal, September 2019
Fernandes, S. (2022).“The Place of Many Waters,” Orion Magazine, Autumn 2022, Vol 41, Number 3
Fernandes, S. (2019). “Against the Drums of Death,” Adi magazine, Winter issue.
Fernandes, S. (2019). “The Right Kind of Immigrant: The Narrative of Deserving and Undeserving Immigrants,” BESE.com, June 14.
Fernandes, S. (2019). ”Can the Bolivarian revolution survive the Venezuelan crisis?" Contribution to collective piece, ROAR magazine, April 11.
Fernandes, S. (2019). ”A Ship Adrift: Cuba After the Pink Tide," NACLA Report on the Americas, April 1.
Fernandes, S. (2019). “Hasta Siempre?” New Internationalist, March-April, p 22.
Fernandes, S. (2019). “How Mumbai's Sanitation Workers Won Their Rights,” Co-published in The Nation and Scroll.in, March 5.
Fernandes, S. (2018). “All you need is love?” Transformation, 30 September.
Fernandes, S. (2018). “The Evisceration of Storytelling,” Oxford University Press blog, June 19.
Fernandes, S. (2018). “How Socially Engaged Activism is Transforming Cuba,” The Nation, February 22.
Fernandes, S. (2018). “Afro-Cuban Culture and the Cuban Revolution,” Art x Cuba. Contemporary Perspectives since 1989. Exhibition Catalogue, curated by Andreas Beitin. Ludwig Forum, Germany, 2018, pp 95 – 121.
Fernandes, S. (2018). “Black Aesthetics and Afro-Latinx Hip Hop: ‘I’m an African,’” ReVista: Harvard Review of Latin America, Special issue on Afro-Latinos. Winter issue, pp 71 – 74.
Fernandes, S. (2017). “Hairdressers of the World Unite!” The Nation, December 28.
Fernandes, S. (2017). “Trump’s Cold-War Politics are Hurting Ordinary Cubans,” The Nation, November 16.
Fernandes, S. (2017). “What’s Left of the Bolivarian Revolution, NACLA Report on the Americas, 49:3, 287 – 289.
Fernandes, S. (2017). “We Need to Fight for all Undocumented Migrants, Not Just Dreamers,” The Nation, September 8.
Fernandes, S. (2017). “Cuban Connectivity: Cuba Enters the Digital Age,” Cultural Anthropology, Hotspots series, March 23.
Fernandes, S. (2016). “We must imagine a post-Fidel Cuba alongside a post-Obama America,” The Sydney Morning Herald, November 29.
Fernandes, S. (2016). “The Many Shades of Fidel Castro,” NACLA Report on the Americas, November 27.
Fernandes, S. (2016). “Democratic Socialism From the Ground Up,” Dissent, June 13.
Fernandes, S. (2016). Afro-Cuban Activists Fight Racism Between Two Fires.The Nation, May 24, 2016.
Fernandes, S. (2016). Black Diasporic Dialogues in Post-Soviet Cuba. NACLA Report on the Americas. 48(1):54 - 56.
Fernandes, S. (2016). In Cuba, Will the Revolution be Digitized? The Nation, March 18, 2016.
Fernandes, S. (2016). What Do Cubans Think of Normalization With the United States? The Nation, February 9, 2016.
Fernandes, S. (2016). The Repeating Barrio. The Nation, February 1, 2016.
Fernandes, S. (2015). Domestic Workers at a Crossroads. Dissent, August 19, 2015.
Fernandes, S. (2014). Do Cubans Really Want US-Style Internet Freedom? NACLA Report on the Americas, December 21, 2014.
Fernandes, S. (2014). Why USAID Could Never Spark a Hip Hop Revolution in Cuba. NACLA Report on the Americas, December 16, 2014.
Fernandes, S. (2014). Iggy Azalea and the Perils of Reinventing Oneself, The Huffington Post, December 12, 2014.
Fernandes, S. (2014). The Rhythms of Dissent: Language, race, and rap in the modern world. The Common Reader, October 2014.
Fernandes, S. (2014). Snapshot from the Economic War in Venezuela. August 24, 2014, venezuelanalysis.com
Fernandes, S. (2014). Stories that Resonate: New Cultures of Documentary Filmmaking in Cuba. LASA Forum XLV(2):20 – 22.
Fernandes, S. (2013). The Day the Music Died in Mali, Op-ed,The New York Times, May 20, 2013.
Fernandes, S. (2013). The Motorbike Diaries. American Prospect, March 13, 2013.
Fernandes, S. (2013). Men at Work. American Prospect, March 13, 2013.
Fernandes, S. (2013). The Women Behind the Wheel. American Prospect, March 15, 2013.