Francisco Carballo joined the Politics Department at Goldsmiths in 2012. Since 2014, he hase held the position of Deputy Director of The Centre for Postcolonial Studies. His formal training is in sociology, political theory and cultural studies. He previously taught at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

His current research addresses three different yet interconnected areas of inquiry: 1) Latin American politics from below (especially in Argentina, Bolivia and Mexico). 2) Decolonial and postcolonial theory. 3) Rough politics. This is understood as an effort to trace the murky contours that separate politics from lawlessness, political activism from sheer violence, and social bonds from criminal complicity in certain areas of the Global South.

Francisco Carballo is currently preparing a book on decolonial politics with Argentinean theorist Walter Mignolo. In both his teaching and his research, he pays close attention to the way in which the language of politics is periodically reinvented through culture and the arts.

Aside from publishing according to academic conventions, Francisco Carballo actively participates in wider public debates through regularly contributing to mass media platforms. He teaches Politics of Other Cultures / Rough Politics and Rethinking Latin America: Power, Politics and Ideas. Is part of the postgraduate programmes: Latin American Dictionary: Art and Politics.