Publications include: "Pájaration and Transculturation: Language and Meaning in Miami's Cuban American Gay Worlds" in Speaking in Queer Tongues: Globalization and Gay Language, edited by William L. Leap and Tom Boellstorff, University of Illinois Press, 2004; “Visibility and Silence: Mariel and Cuban American Gay Male Experience and Representation” forthcoming in Queer Migrations: Sexuality, U.S. Citizenship, and Border Crossings, edited by Eithne Luibheid and Lionel Cantú, University of Minnesota Press; "Oye Loca: Las identidades y la cultura masculina gay cubano-americana," in the Cuban journal Temas, 1998.  She has also co-produced a documentary video titled Making the Struggle: Housing and Latinos in Isla Vista / Haciendo La Lucha: La Vivienda y los Latinos en Isla Vista, 1996.  Prof. Peña received a post-doctoral fellowship (AY 2004-2005) from the Social Science Research Council’s Sexuality Research Fellowship Program to conduct additional research for her forthcoming book, Oye Loca: The Making of Cuban American Gay Miami.  This book is an ethnographic study of Cuban American gay male culture in Miami that examines how narratives of Cuba, masculinity, and gender transgression structure Cuban American gay men's lives. Her teaching interests include Latino/a Studies, Sexuality and Gender, Cultural Studies, and Race and Ethnicity. 

Ph.D. in Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara