The APSA Diversity Fellows Program (DFP) is a fellowship competition for individuals from underrepresented backgrounds applying to or in the early stages of doctoral programs in political science. The DFP was established in 1969 (originally as the Black Graduate Fellowship) to increase the number of minority scholars in the discipline. Since its inception, the APSA DFP has designated more than 600 fellows and contributed to the successful completion of doctoral political science programs for over 100 individuals.
Daniel Hiram Zengotita is a second-year PhD student studying political theory at the University of Florida. Daniel’s research interrogates disparate imaginings of democratic citizenship in the U.S., Brazil, and the Caribbean. In it, they draw together intertwining-intersecting conversations on affect, judgment, and experience to show how historically marginalized communities contest sexism, homo/transphobia, xenophobia, and racism. Currently, they are researching the relationship between code-switching, language-acquisition, and racialized competency-standards in primary education and their respective roles in the formation of political judgment.
As part of their vision of building a more collaborative graduate program, Daniel, along with Sabrina Marasa, Kelly Richardson, and Glen Billesbach are working to make graduate student efforts visible while improving the quality of their development through workshops, peer-to-peer editing, and additional funding to defray the costs of conducting/presenting research. Together, this group founded the Race, Gender, and Ethnicity Working Group and the Seminar Series on Race, Gender, and Ethnicity. The aim of this endeavor is to promote graduate students and their work, but also to show what kind of work students are pioneering and how it can help draw more diverse voices into the discipline of political science.