Welcome, Bienvenidos!
Welcome to my website. I am Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Department of History and Sociology at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan and Associate Member of the Gender and Women’s Studies Program. My research is in the areas of political violence, irregular armed groups, economic globalization, agrarian conflicts, forced displacement, human rights, social movements, gender violence and sex trafficking.
I regard myself as a global sociologist. My teaching and research are humanist and transformative in their orientation and are aimed at promoting social justice and contributing to social transformation by empowering people to become agents of change. I believe in the need to globalize the sociological imagination and ‘commit’ sociology by combining intellectual endeavors with love for people and a belief that change is possible and necessary. At a time when our world is facing deepening wealth inequalities, environmental and migration crises, and the rise of militaristic, repressive, and neo-fascist political tendencies, we need more than ever the humanizing and empowering potential of sociology.
Presently, I am working towards an emergent theory of violence that offers new ways of conceptualizing the relationship between non-state armed actors, capital accumulation, and states in the era of globalization. I have also been researching the impacts of pro-capitalist violence on women and sexuality. I am the Principal Investigator for the SSHRC-funded project Violence and Land Dispossession in Central America and Mexico. On this website you will find my publications, upcoming and past events, courses I teach, links to alternative media and other useful sources, and the project website.
