Enely Turbi Alvarez, Amherst College
Enely Turbi Alvarez is a first-generation student at Amherst College. She is from New York City and proudly represents the Bronx. Enely is a political science and religion double major. She is currently on the executive board for Amherst’s Latinx affinity group as the first-ever Afro-Latinx chair. In this role, Enely facilitates spaces like La Platica, through which Latinx students engage in conversation about the community and their identities. Enely has also served in Amhert’s Antiracism Committee, representing La Causa. This committee is composed of other affinity leaders and President Ellio, who meet biweekly to discuss the college’s collaboration and support of affinity spaces and marginalized students on campus. This past year, Enely has conducted research with Professor Austin Sarat that observed the death penalty during pandemics and wars. This project aimed to look at capital punishment as an institution and how it is affected in times of crisis. Enely’s academic interests include systems of power as they pertain to religious groups and punitive institutions in the United States. She hopes to use her research and experiences within Amherst and her community in New York to facilitate change for those at the margin of racial and class oppression.