Dr. Jessala A. Grijalva is a scholar of political behavior and democratic inclusion who studies how immigrant-origin communities navigate exclusion in American democracy. Her research spans political behavior, American political development, and computational approaches to political analysis.
Research
Dr. Grijalva's dissertation challenges a foundational assumption in the study of immigrant-origin populations. Existing research treats acculturation as a binary choice between heritage and American culture, but this framework has never been empirically tested. Using comparative cluster analysis, and using data from the 2006 Latino National Survey she found that 76% of Latino voters hold hybrid cultural orientations that the binary model obscure, and that these orientations produce systematically different political profiles. She is extending this behavioral work through a machine learning project, using random forest and shap interpretation, on Latino vote choice and the growing gender gap across the 2016, 2020, and 2024 elections.
Research
Dr. Grijalva's dissertation challenges a foundational assumption in the study of immigrant-origin populations. Existing research treats acculturation as a binary choice between heritage and American culture, but this framework has never been empirically tested. Using comparative cluster analysis, and using data from the 2006 Latino National Survey she found that 76% of Latino voters hold hybrid cultural orientations that the binary model obscure, and that these orientations produce systematically different political profiles. She is extending this behavioral work through a machine learning project, using random forest and shap interpretation, on Latino vote choice and the growing gender gap across the 2016, 2020, and 2024 elections.
This research revealed a broader pattern. The frameworks we use to study marginalized populations often build exclusion into their design. Her book project, The Herrenvolk State, shows that the same problem afflicts how we measure democracy itself. She developed the Power-Sharing Index to capture whether political power flows across groups over time, revealing 130 years of near-zero power-sharing that standard democracy indices missed entirely.
Background
Born and raised in South Tucson, Arizona, Dr. Grijalva's academic journey reflects the complex identities she studies. Beginning at Pima Community College while raising three children as a single mother, she transferred to the University of Arizona, graduating magna cum laude before earning her Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame in 2024.
Current Work & Recognition
As Co-Principal Investigator of Notre Dame's $100,000 Democracy Initiative, Dr. Grijalva leads interdisciplinary research on how diverse democracies achieve genuine power-sharing. Her work has been supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. She currently serves as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Institute for Latino Studies.
Born and raised in South Tucson, Arizona, Dr. Grijalva's academic journey reflects the complex identities she studies. Beginning at Pima Community College while raising three children as a single mother, she transferred to the University of Arizona, graduating magna cum laude before earning her Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame in 2024.
Current Work & Recognition
As Co-Principal Investigator of Notre Dame's $100,000 Democracy Initiative, Dr. Grijalva leads interdisciplinary research on how diverse democracies achieve genuine power-sharing. Her work has been supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. She currently serves as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Institute for Latino Studies.