She received her PhD in Hispanic Literature from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Her areas of specialty are Afro-Panamanian Literature, Hispanic Caribbean Literature, and reggae en español. Dr. Watson has published articles in the Afro-Hispanic Review, Cincinnati Romance Review, the College Language Association Journal, the Latin American and Caribbean Ethnic Studies Journal, PALARA, Callaloo, and Hispania. Her forthcoming manuscript, The Politics of Race in Panama: Afro-Hispanic and West Indian Literary Discourses of Contention (University Press of Florida) deals with the forging of Afro-Panamanian identity.