Paula D. McClain is professor of political science, of public policy and African and African American Studies at Duke University. She studies racial minority group politics, particularly inter-minority political and social competition, and brought her expertise to Zócalo’s conference on race and immigration, discussing black-brown relations. Learn more about McClain below.

Q. What music have you listened to today?

A. Today, nothing, I was in a hotel room.

Q. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A. A lawyer.

Q. What is your favorite cocktail?

A. Cosmopolitan.

Q. If you could take only one more journey, where would you go?

A. Back to South Africa.

Q. What profession would you like to practice in your next life?

A. Probably a performer of some kind.

Q. What is your fondest childhood memory?

A. Christmas.

Q. What is your most prized material possession?

A. My car.

Q. What promise do you make to yourself that you break the most often?

A. To lose weight.

Q. Who is the one person living or dead you would most like to meet for dinner?

A. President Obama, or Paul Robeson.

To read more about McClain’s panel, click here.

*Photo by Andy Levin.