Who we are

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    Director

    Tina Hilgers, Ph.D.

    Dr. Tina Hilgers is Associate Professor of Political Science at Concordia University. Her research is in the field of comparative politics at the intersection of sociology, anthropology and geography.

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    Researcher

    Jean François Mayer, Ph.D.

    Dr. Jean François Mayer is Associate Professor of Political Science at Concordia University (Montreal, Canada). His research deals with social movements, labour politics, and democratic processes in Latin America, with a particular emphasis on Brazil and Mexico.

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    Researcher

    Kregg Hetherington, Ph.D.

    Dr. Kregg Hetherington is the Concordia University Research Chair in Environmental Ethnography. His research specializes in experimental ethnographic practices and the politics of environment, infrastructure and the bureaucratic state.

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    Researcher

    Nora Jaffary, Ph.D.

    Dr. Nora Jaffary’s research focuses on the social and gendered history of colonial and nineteenth-century Mexico. Her book, Reproduction and Its Discontents in Mexico: Childbirth and Contraception, 1750-1905, which examines the persistence of pre-Columbian midwifery, monstrous births, infanticide, abortion and the emergence of Mexican obstetrics, was published in the fall of 2016 with UNC-Chapel Hill Press.

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    Researcher

    James Freeman, Ph.D.

    Dr. James Freeman is an Assistant Professor (LTA) in the Department of Geography, Planning and Environment. His research focuses on popular culture, public space and political economy in urban Latin America, particularly Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Managua, Nicaragua. For the last several years Dr. Freeman’s research has focused on the consequences of mega-events such as the World Cup and the Olympics for the urban poor in Rio de Janeiro, with a particular emphasis on the Police Pacification Unit program (UPP).

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    Researcher

    Otacílio de Oliveira, Ph.D.

    Otacilio de Oliveira Jr holds a PhD in Social Psychology from the Federal University of Minas Gerais / Brazil. His PhD research investigated the relationships between cultural production, literary writing, and activism in the poor suburbs of large Brazilian cities. In his master's degree, he researched the process of migration of young peasants to Brazilian metropolises.

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Students

  • João Roque

    Student

    João Roque

    Political Science - Concordia University

    How creative workers are resisting the dominance of digital cultural production platforms.

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    Student

    Cássia Reis Donato

    Cássia Reis Donato is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Political Science at Concordia University. Cássia has a Master’s Degree in Social Psychology from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Her Master’s thesis analyzes the processes of political participation of young Afro-Brazilian women against gender and racial inequalities. She has actively participated in social movements in Brazil and has experience in public policy management.

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    Student

    Liam Dunbar

    Liam Dunbar is a Ph.D candidate in Political Science at Concordia University, having entered the program in 2018. He holds a Baccalaureate in International Development and Globalization, as well as a Masters in Globalization and International Development, from the University of Ottawa. His Master’s Thesis explored the role of the Salvadoran diaspora in Canada in the Salvadoran mining justice movement. For his Ph.D.

  • Student

    Rubens Lima Moraes

    PhD. Candidate Rubens Lima Moraes

    Rubens Lima Moraes is a Ph.D candidate in Political Science at Concordia University. He holds an M.A. in Public Policy and Public Administration at Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina (UDESC – Florianópolis, Brazil). His doctoral dissertation is about the process through which knowledge is produced within participatory institutions governing natural resources in Latin America. His focus is on water governance and management in two Brazilian cities.

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    Student

    Othón A. Leon

    Othon A. Leon is a Ph.D. student in Political Science (War Studies) at Concordia University. He holds an MBA at ITAM (Mexico City), an M.Sc. in International Studies at University of Montreal, and an M.Sc. in Strategy at HEC Montreal. His doctoral dissertation analyses the ways in which the region located South of the Rio Bravo represents a puzzle in terms of the relative absence of inter-state conflict, between its states and territories

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    Student

    Luisa Seidl

    Luisa Seidl holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science with a double minor in Human Rights and French Language from Concordia University, where she will pursue her Master's in Political Science. Under the Center for Research on Resistance, Informality and Violence (CERIV), her research focuses on domestic workers in Brazil and their everyday forms of resistance to violence. She has participated in several academic panels surrounding inequality and discrimination in Latin American countries, focusing on LGBTQ+ rights and culture.

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    Student

    Taha Amiri

    Political science - Concordia University

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    Student

    Antoine Kayvan Amyot-Ariya

    Political Science and Economics - Concordia University

    B.A. in Political Science with an interest in urban conflict in Haiti.

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    Student

    Eden Martin

    Political Science and Urban Studies - Concordia University.

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    Student

    Oscar Garcia

    Political Science - Concordia University

    Governance models in Latin America and ethnic relations in socially fragmented contexts, such as in Brazil, Guatemala, Bolivia, etc.

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    Student

    Valeria Venegas

    Concordia University

    Security in latin American countries and Canada as well as global peace building.

Former members

  • Woman with long brown hair sitting in a train, resting her head on her hand, looking at the camera.

    Kathy Meilleur AISK

  • A young woman with long, wavy blonde hair and glasses, wearing a blue and white striped button-up shirt and a necklace, smiling in front of a plain wall.

    Audrey-Anne Doyle

    Program Officer at Canadian Heritage

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    Annele Bernal

    Mexican Government

  • A smiling man with dark hair and glasses, wearing a striped collared shirt, standing outdoors with trees and a building in the background.

    Gustavo Henrique Andrade

    BA

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    Natanael J. Vargas

    MA

  • Portrait of a young man with brown hair and a beard, wearing a green collared shirt and blue sweater, standing outdoors with leaves and a building background.

    Carlos Zapata

    University of Ottawa

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    Cecilia Eraso

    BA

  • A young woman with medium-length dark hair and bangs, smiling at the camera with sunlight on her face, in front of green plants.

    Laura Sofía Rivera Sánchez

    University of Toronto

  • A smiling man with glasses and a beard stands outdoors in a garden area with lush green plants and trees, behind him is a brick building and a blue sign.

    Henrique Araújo Araugusuku

    University of São Paulo

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    Maria Fernanda Aguilar Lara

    University of São Paulo