Sheridan Wigginton, Ph.D.

About

Sheridan Wigginton came to California Lutheran University in fall 2011 to chair the new Department of Languages and Cultures, a position she held until her term ended in January 2018.  She brings her experience as a department chair and a program director to CLU's multi-language department, which offers majors and minors in French, German, and Spanish. She was elected to serve as the Humanities Senator to the Faculty Senate in 2022 and will serve as a  member of the Faculty Senate  Executive Committee in the role of Vice-Chair in the 2023-2024 academic year. 

Dr. Wigginton teaches courses in Spanish that range from elementary level language to senior level seminars on Race and Ethnicity in Latin America.  She has served as the president of the of Afro-Latin/American Research Association (ALARA) since 2014.  She has been a member or chair of several search committees and also helped develop the Equity Advocates role as part of the faculty search process. 

She is the co-author, along with Richard T. Middleton IV, of the book Unmastering the Script: Education, Critical Race Theory, and the Struggle to Reconcile the Haitian other in Dominican Identity (University of Alabama Press: 2019).

In addition to being a Research Fellow at the Antiana and Caribana Collection at the University of Curaçao during her 2018 sabbatical, she was selected as a 2021-2022 Research Fellow at the City University of New York Dominican Studies Institute to carry out an analysis of representations of Dominicans and Dominican culture in university-level Spanish textbooks. 

Education

• Ph.D., Foreign Language Curriculum and Instruction, University of Missouri
• M.A., Spanish, University of Missouri
• B.A., Spanish, Eastern Kentucky University

Expertise

Caribbean Studies, Dominican Republic, Curaçao, Critical Pedagogy, National Identity in Textbooks

Publications

Book

Wigginton, S. and Middleton IV. R.T. (2019). Unmastering the Script: Education, Critical Race Theory, and the Struggle to Reconcile the Haitian Other in Dominican Identity.  Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Hettinga, K., Wigginton, S., & Seales, L. “¿Hablas español? (2019). Launching a Spanish-language insert at a small student newspaper.” Refereed Conference Proceeding. Fifth World Journalism Education Congress, Paris, France. http://www.wjec.paris/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/WJEC_proceedings_V2_Final.pdf Pages 399-410. Accessed on May 24, 2021.

Middleton IV. R.T., and Wigginton S. (2018). The interconnected Challenges and dangers faced by Haitian and Haitian-descended youth in the Dominican Republic. In R.T. Middleton, IV (Ed.) Unequal protection of the law: The rights of citizens and non-citizens in comparative perspective, 195-217. St. Paul, MN: West Academic. 

Middleton IV, R.T., and Wigginton, S. (2012).  A comparative analysis of how the framing of jus solis doctrine affects immigrant inclusion into a national identity.  Temple Political and Civil Rights Law Review, 21 (2), 521-542.

Wigginton, S. (2010). Blackness as a barrier to citizenship and education in the Dominican Republic, Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 5 (2), 163-170.

Wigginton, S. (2007). The color of citizenship in the Dominican Republic: Chronicling blackness through education policy and reform. In A. Morris & M. Parker (Eds.), Celebrations and Connections in Hispanic Literature, 40-47. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Wigginton, S. (2006). Hispanidad as ethnic myth and the anti-Haitian nation: An ethno-symbolic approach to understanding Dominican identity, PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association, 10, 51-60.

Wigginton, S. (2006). Banning, becoming and being black in the Dominican Republic: How attitudes about blackness are reflected in education policy and reform," In R. Kirkland & D. Namala (Eds.), Proceedings of the Pacific Coast Council on Latin American Studies, 172-179. Carson, California: PCCLAS Secretariat-California State University, Dominguez Hills.

Wigginton, S. (2005). Character or caricature: Representations of blackness in Dominican social science textbooks, Race, Ethnicity and Education, 8 (2), 191-211. 

Reviews

Wigginton, S. (2003). Review of the book Why the Cocks Fight: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola by Michele Wucker. Journal of Haitian Studies, 9 (2), 181-184.

Wigginton, S. (2009). Review of the book Dominican Cultures: The Making of a Caribbean Society by Bernado Vega, Editor. Journal of Haitian Studies, 15 (1&2), 409-412.

Interview

Wigginton, S. (2000). Interview with Blas Jiménez, PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin American Research Association, 4, 90-92.

Translation

Wigginton, S. (1999). [Translation of abstract for journal article "Parasites, porotic hyperostosis, and the implications of changing perspectives," by T.D. Holland & M.J. O'Brien]. American Antiquity, 62 (2), 183-193.

Grant Funding

2021-2022: City University of New York Dominican Studies Fellow. "Dominican Representation in Introductory-Level Spanish Textbooks in the United States." Funded: $10,000. 

2021: Gannett Foundation to support the the development and launch of a new interdisciplinary Spanish Media Minor between the departments of Communication and Languages and  Cultures. Funded: $10,000. 

2018: Wigginton, S. (PI) (100%). “Teaching Tula: How and why Curaçaoans tell their island’s story of blackness, slavery, and revolt.” California Lutheran University Faculty Research and Creative Works Grant. Funded: $5,000.

2013: Wigginton, S. (PI) (100%) “Mixtec Cultural Education in the Oxnard School District: Identifying the Key Elements for a Community Created Curriculum.” California Lutheran University Center for Equality and Justice Summer Research in Service of Communities. Funded: $10,000.